When You Recover
by Lucky999
Summary: Nurse Lovino Vargas has to take care of brain damaged patient Antonio Carriedo, who seems to have a strange affection towards him. N-not that Lovino likes it! The Italian is determined to make the man recover, no matter what it takes. What will little Lovino get himself into with this patient? (Spain / Romano) Spamano, with side FrUk, PruCan, and GerIta.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! I was inspired to write this from... Well, I don't know where, but I really liked the idea and since no one else (that I know of) has written anything like it, I decided to give it a try. Sorry for any mistakes, and I hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own hetalia.**

"Nurse Vargas?"

Lovino looked up from his clip board, pen poised in the air as he looked at the person calling him. He noticed the corner of the person's mouth (they had a double chin so it didn't look too good) turn up slightly into a smirk.

Of course; yet another person finding it amusing that a male was a nurse. Was it really that hard to believe? Placing the pen down at the top of the clipboard, Lovino tilted his head at the other and tapped his foot in an impatient manner, his pale blue uniform wrinkling slightly.

"Oh, right," the woman said, brushing some obviously bleached hair out of her face with sausage fingers that were painted an obnoxiously bright red. She had been taking so long to answer because she had been chomping on her gum as she checked Lovino out, and now the smirk on her face was even bigger.

Yes, Lovino was aware that the uniforms in the hospital were rather... Feminine. The scrubs were pastel blue with purple trimming, his nametag having a backround of purple flowers. This led to many people (including other nurses, those stupid bitches) making fun of him. He had learned to shrug it off over the years. He needed this job, he couldn't afford to get fired.

She cleared her throat, dull brown eyes darting down to her own clipboard as she scanned over her notes. "Your last patient, Mr. Kirkland, has been transferred, correct?" She asked, her red pen tapping impatiently on her clipboard, making an annoying clacking sound.

"Si, he had recovered and has been sent to the other hospital for further testing. I believe Doctor Bonnefoy is there with him today, actually..." The Italian trailed off at the look the woman was giving him. It was one that clearly read that she didn't give a fuck about the details, just say yes or no.

"Which is why you have to start taking care of his new patient. You two do work together, right?" She barely waited for the nurse's nod before she shoved some papers at him. Lovino inwardly shuddered. Her sausag- /fingers/ had brushed against his. "His room number is 485. He's had serious brain damage for the past three years, we highly doubt he'll recover," she said in a bored voice.

"That's messed up. Can't we do anything?"

She looked up sharply from her process of re-closing the clipboard without chipping a nail, a sneer on her painted on lips. "The /doctors/ have been working on it for three years. If they haven't been able to do anything then, they won't be able to do anything now," she exclaimed with a huff. "He recently transferred here, the other hospital was too full. He has no family to protest the move," she stated as she started to turn away.

"...bitch.." the auburn hair man muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Lovino said quickly as he looked down at the papers. He scanned over the several numbers that were printed in small, black ink. The man was 26, only a year older than Lovino himself.

/It's sad that such a horrible thing happened to him at such a young age. He probably had dreams he wanted to accomplish. A higher job position, moving into a new apartment, hell, maybe he even had a girl he had a crush on and was planning on asking her out before he got into this mess.../

Lovino shook his head, tucking the notes under his arm as he continued walking. He didn't get why he was thinking so much about this patient anyways. He turned towards the stairs, scowling up at the trip to come. Damn room was on the fourth floor and the elevator was broken. Stupid engineers couldn't do their job of their life depended on it. Every time Lovino had walked by the rather burly group of men, they were flirting with whichever women, or, on occasion, men were in the room. To make matters worse, the boss of the group always insisted on smoking inside the fucking hospital, which really just pissed Lovino off.

Smoking in a hospital? /Really?/

After a few more minutes of him climbing up the hard metal stairs and cursing the engineers in charge of fixing the fucking elevator, Lovino opened the thick door that led into the hallway.

The floor was white tile, lined with white walls that led to white ceilings. Metal carts with hospital food and medicine lined the hallway, giving it a rather unappealing smell. Wrinkling his nose, Lovino started heading down, looking into the rooms where the light brown wooden door was open. Nurses in identical uniforms to Lovino and the occasional doctor were in the rooms, bent over frail and broken figures with various medicle instruments. The people in the beds were powerless to protest, their minds and body too damaged to grasp what was going on.

An aged lady sat on a wheelchair in one of the rooms, wearing the typical white gown patients were required to wear. Her dull gray eyes stared lifelessly out the window, her thin lips gaping. A kind nurse, one of the few Lovino was friends with, was in the corner of the room, setting up the woman's breakfast.

"Ciao, Bella," Lovino said as he passed, lifting a hand to give a half wave to the blonde in the room. The nurse looked up and have her typical cat like smile, her green headband making her eyes stand out.

"Hello, Lovi! I'm just helping Ellie here with her brea- Oh no, Ellie dear, don't do that! Sorry, Lovi," the blonde quickly apologized as she hurried over the the frail woman, gently taking her away from the window she had been trying to lean out of.

"It's ok, I have to leave anyways. Me and Dr. Bonnefoy have a new patient," Lovino said as he stepped away from the room and gave the Belgian nurse a small smile before heading down the white hallway.

"Bye, Lovino!" She called after him. Lovino could hear the sounds of the rubber wheel of the wheelchair roll towards the bed, and the gently murmuring of Bella as she started to feed the elderly lady her food.

Lovino walked past a few more doors until he came to a stop at the one with 485 next to it in white letters on a black plaque. It was written in Braille underneath, and Lovino absentmindedly lifted a hand to run a finger over the raised dots before dropping his hand to the door handle and pushing open.

The room was dim, seeing as the plain tan curtains were pulled close. The faint outline of a figure laying in bed could be seen, their steady breath causing the thin pale blue blankets to rise then lower every few seconds. A metal cart with the man's breakfast was parked off to the side. With a small sigh, Lovino walked over to the curtains and yanked them open. He didn't get why the other doctor's and nurses insisted on keeping them sealed shut; it made the rooms even more depressing than they already were. As soon as the light filtered in, the figure on the bed shifted.

Lovino turned around to see chocolate brown curls facing him; the man was on his side. He had broad shoulders and strong looking shoulder blades that the hospital gown fell over. Lovino headed over, pressing the button on the side of the bed that raised it. As the metal frame started to lift up, the figure shifted again and the man's face came into view.

Half lidded, bright green eyes trailed over the room, coming to a stop on the Italian's face. Thin lips were parted, a thin trail of saliva falling from them onto a strong, tan jawline and setting into the man's thick, and rather soft, looking cocoa locks that were long enough to be pulled back. Lovino guessed that no one bothered to give the man a hair cut while he was here.

An almost questioning rumble came from the man as his mouth fell open even more, the light pink tip of his tongue hanging out of his mouth as his one hand curled and uncurled as he tried lifting it out towards Lovino.

A little confused, the nurse cautiously walked towards the patient, curious as to why he was trying to move his arm towards him. When he was close enough, Antonio's hand jerked forwards, falling on top of Lovino's wrist.

Letting out a small cry of surprise, Lovino jerked his wrist back. He knew that people with brain damage couldn't always control their actions, and former patients that Lovino had treated had been... Violent.

Antonio's hand dropped and he turned his head to the side, a small sigh escaping his parted lips. Lovino watched him for a minute before coming closer. His hand was still curling and slowly uncurling at his side. Lovino was at the side of the bed when Antonio jerked his rather large hand, or at least, large in comparison to Lovino's, towards Lovino's own hand and covered it.

Remaining calm this time, Lovino looked down with wide eyes as the warmth of Antonio's hand coated his and the man gave a single jerk-up and down-of his hand, making Lovino's own hand move up and down as well. Then he released the nurse's hand and let his tan one flop back onto the white pillow, causing small wrinkles to appear on the fabric.

Lovino blinked in surprise, looking down at his olive toned hand that the other had just...shook? The Italian shook his head a little. Was that... Antonio's version of a handshake? He peered curiously at the tan figure, but he made no movement on the bed, save for the occasional shift of a limb or a muttered sound coming from his gaping lips.

Shaking the gesture off a little, Lovino headed towards the breakfast cart. He wrinkled his nose a little as he neared it-hospitals aren't exactly known for their five star meals. Small, styrofoam disposable plates were stacked on the cart, each one containing a rather small portion of food. Soggy eggs covered in plastic wrap, some watery looking apple sauce, Lovino didn't even know what the hell that was but it looked like jam...maybe, and a few pieces of cut up, soft toast sat, waiting to be eaten. Or tossed into a toxic waste factory. Lovino prefered the latter. The food not only looked unappetizing, but was emitting an oder that would make anyone in their right of mind (no pun intended) make a run for it, possibly stopping in the bathroom or any room with a garbage can along the way to throw up a little before resuming their running away from the horrible food.

Unfortunately, Lovino couldn't do that. Trying not to make too bad of a face at the 'breakfast' the hospital had provided for Antonio, he wheeled the cart over. The man's head turned, his eyelids flickering. Lovino cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"S-so. Hi, Antonio. I read somewhere, probably in some medical textbook or some shit, I don't know, that people with certain types of brain damage can remember their time in the hospital. So let's get some things straight." Lovino cleared his throat, flushing at the thought of talking to a man in Antonio's condition like this, but continued anyways.

"My names Lovino Vargas. And no, I'm not your fucking doctor-oh, by the way, tell anyone I was swearing while talking to you I'll castrate you with one of those plastic forks from the cafeteria, and let me tell you. It will not be pretty."

As he spoke, the Italian started to walk to the side of the bed, reaching under to take out the metal table attached to it. He made sure Antonio was sitting up more as he set and locked the table in front of him, in case the man tried to knock it away. "Oh. You're probably wondering who I am then, huh," Lovino said, not expecting an answer as he gingerly lifted the bowl of soggy applesauce onto the table.

"Well, I'm your fucking nurse. And when you recover-that's right, I said /when/ not /if/, bitch-you better not make fun of me for being a nurse or, well, I believe we discussed what I could do with a plastic fork.

Speaking of plastic utensils, Lovino opened a package of a fork, butter knife, spoon, and a spork. He placed the spoon next to the apple sauce and turned back to the cart to take the eggs. "Your doctor, he's a perv, by the way, is making final tests on a recently recovered patient today. You'll probably meet him tomorrow," Lovino said, setting the plate of toast down next to the eggs and grabbing the jam...jelly...human brain that was purple and jiggling looking thing and placing it across from the toast.

Peeling the plastic wrap back from the apple sauce, Lovino continued talking. Although now it was more to make himself feel less lonely than to 'get things straight' with Antonio. "Anyways, sorry for the food... Im not allowed to say I dislike it here, but I think we both know what I really think of it." Lovino's eyes flickered to Antonio's half closed ones, then he looked back down to the eggs he had now impaled with a fork. "Well...maybe... If you can tell or not, I don't know..." he mumbled.

It was unclear in the notes as to what kind of brain damage Antonio had. The tests didn't specify whether or not he was going to be mentally challenged for the rest of his life, or if he had just damaged a part of his brain that limited his physical capabilities, including talking and full control of his limbs.

"Anyways, time to eat up. At least this shit's full of nutrients and what not. Can't exactly work out at the hospital to keep in shape..." he mumbled as he scooped up some eggs onto the fork. The pale yellow pieces fell apart from each other, slipping off the fork but managing to cover it in a fine yellow slime. Huffing in frustration, Lovino tried again, stabbing the pieces of slippery eggs before looking at Antonio.

The man's mouth was already open, so that wouldn't be a problem. The Italian nurse could only hope that the tan man could control himself enough to chew and swallow. Lovino cleared his throat.

"Ok, Mr. Carriedo. Time to eat," he said as he lifted the fork to the thin lips of the patient, lifting his other hand to gently close Antonio's mouth around the fork. He waited a few seconds to see if the man would react. For a split second he was afraid he wouldn't remember how to chew, and then Lovino would have to go and get a doctor to come and hook him up to yet another machine just so the man could get all his nutrients and other important shit that your body needs through a tube.

Sure, hospital food is, well, just plain horrible, but still. Lovino would prefer if his patients at least got to eat real food. Food with texture and taste-no matter how bad-and left you feeling full.

Suddenly, the man's emerald eyes seemed to register something, and while Lovino waited with a nervous expression, he started moving his jaw. Slowly, Lovino felt the man start to mechanically chew around the fork, which left Lovino free to slip it out and scoop some more eggs up as he watched Antonio swallow.

"I-it's a good thing you know how to eat still," Lovino stated as he slipped the fork into the parted lips again. As soon as he slipped it out, he reached for a napkin to wipe the mixture of eggs and drool off the patient's chin.

"I know the food tastes like crap... I used to be in the hospital too, you know," Lovino kept talking, mumbling his words. The quietness of the room was unnerving, and he felt like he should at least try to make things more interesting for Antonio.

"But you don't want to hear about that," he said as yet another forkful of eggs was deposited into Antonio's mouth. "After all, you have enough to worry about. Well, kind of. Maybe. I don't really know... But your life was probably hell of a lot better before you came here," Lovino stated a he tried scooping up more eggs, only to feel the fork scraping the styrofoam bottom of the plate. Releasing an annoyed huff, Lovino placed the fork down on top of the plate, his hand then going towards the applesauce.

"Anyways, I should tell you about your doctor before you meet him. He's French, blonde, and a total pervert," Lovino said as he lowered the spoon into the liquid-solid-mixture thing. The applesauce was runny and it took Lovino a few tries to get a decent spoonful. After he did he held it up, only to find Antonio's lips sealed shut.

Lovino sighed and placed the spoon down. "Come on now, Mr. Carriedo. Open up." Nothing. The lips stayed shut. Lovino lifted a hand, pulling slightly at his jaw. A small sound came from the man, but he didn't open. "You have to eat. It's good for you, and you're probably hungry and all that shit."

Still nothing.

Lovino scowled and shook his head, standing up. "Well, I can't exactly blame you. The food here's horrible. You ate enough, but you better eat more at lunch today," Lovino said as he lifted the remaining dishes up and dumped them oh so gracefully into the black garbage bin next to the bed.

"Well, according to all the tests, you're stable for now. I'll be back at lunch," Lovino said as he picked up his clipboard, jotted a few notes down, and turned to leave.

If he had turned around, he would have noticed a large, rather goofy smile messily find its way onto Antonio's face. One hand jolted upwards as he let it away from side to side; his own little form of waving goodbye. But Lovino had left by then, his head ducked low over his notes as he tried to ignore the snickering of the other nurses as he walked by towards yet another patient.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all o the reviews! I originally wasn't too sure if I should do this story since I didn't have any plans besides the basic idea for it, but you guys really inspired me to keep on going. For the question from Book Thief101, Antonio's brain damage is from the car crash and I made it so they are unsure as to what specific parts of the brain has been damaged. Thank you for everybody who has read this and sorry for any mistakes!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

Two weeks. It had been two fucking weeks of being Antonio Carriedo's personal nurse before that bastard /finally/ showed some improvement.

It's not like Lovino expected him to be cured right away-oh no, he wasn't that stupid. But Lovino was inpatient and stubborn, a bad mix when it came to waiting for people to recover. He was used to people showing some signs of improvement within the first couple of days of getting himself as a nurse and Dr. Bonnefoy as their doctor, but no.

This son of a bitch took two whole weeks.

Maybe it was because Francis, that perverted doctor Bonnefoy's first name, hadn't been helping out as much as usual. Their last patient, Arthur, was still taking tests to ensure his mental stability, and despite the fact that Francis was no longer needed, he insisted on staying by Arthur's side until he was 'fully recovered'.

This left Lovino pretty much taking care of Antonio by himself. Feeding, washing, medicine, all that fun stuff was left to the Italian nurse. And it was not easy. Thankfully Bella helped out often, since none of the other nurses ever bothered to try and assist Lovino. She always had to help Lovino lift Antonio from his bed and drag him to the tub, which wasn't far away thankfully. But Antonio was heavier than both of them, not in fat, but in muscle. This made the job already harder than it already was.

But the tan patient's improvement didn't happen when Lovino was cleaning him with Bella. No, it happened when Lovino was feeding Antonio lunch.

The recently unwrapped saran wrapped ham and cheese and whatever other vital nutrients and shit they crammed into there was sitting on top of the metal food cart, accompanied by some rubbery looking carrots, and for 'desert', some vitamen enriched gummies. They were supposed to be shaped like dinosoars, Lovino thought, but it looked like someone had taken a blow torch to each of the dinosaurs faces and melted a good chunk of them. They were now unrecognizable, colored lumps that sat in plastic bags while they waited to be consumed.

Normally, Lovino would feed Antonio his lunch, then get up, and go out to eat his own lunch, or maybe even go down to his apartment that he shared with his brother, Feliciano, and have some food there. Unfortunately, this wasn't possible anymore. Two days ago, while Lovino was gone for lunch, Antonio had decided that it would be a good idea to try and look out the window. That was across the room.

That son of a bitch.

He made it two steps before crashing and falling. Like a ship being covered by a raging ocean, he collapsed as he was covered by the thin blankets and pillows of his bed, and the surrounding monitors. Thankfully none of the equipment broke, but Lovino was then assigned to be near Antonio at all times.

So Lovino was required to pack lunch as though he was back in school again, and eat lunch while caring for Antonio. Which you know, Lovino thought was just fucking fantastic. His other patients, none of which had cases as serious as Antonio's, had been assigned to other doctors and nurses so this could happen, so the auburn haired nurse didn't have to worry about any of them. Nope. It was all about Antonio.

As Lovino finished setting out the glass of water for Antonio to wash down his pitiful, but apparently very healthy, lunch down with, he took out his own lunch as well.

He had taken his lunch in a brown paper bag the first day, and when Feliciano had found out, he flipped.

Going on a rant about how horrible it was for the environment and what not, he went out and bought Lovino a reusable, and apparently very environmentally friendly, lunch bag that had a tomato print on it. Not that Lovino was complaining, he loved tomatoes.

He pulled up an uncomfortable, metal chair next to Antonio's bed and looked down at the patient. Antonio's head lolled to the side and emerald eyes flickered towards Lovino's tomato print bag as his eyebrows drew together to form what Lovino had figured out was his confused face.

"It's my lunch, idiota. I have to eat too, you know," Lovino muttered as he opened it up. Normally he fed Antonio first, but the patient wasn't assigned to eat until later and Lovino was starving. All he had for breakfast that morning was a hurried cappuccino and a bite of leftover pasta. Damn alarm clock hadn't woken him up. Again.

Antonio's eyes showed understanding, or at least, Lovino liked to believe that they did. Lovino always searched for small signs that showed that his patients were still mentally /there/. As long as they weren't completely gone, there was hope for recovery. Antonio seemed to be trying hard on the inside to get better, but damn. At that moment, he had no physical improvement, and Lovino wasn't sure when he would start to get better.

Lovino stuck his hand into the reusable, earth helping bag and felt his lips twitch up in satisfaction as his fingers wrapped around a familiar feeling orb. The cool and glossy texture under his fingers indicated to him that this was, indeed, what he had been waiting to eat since he has woken up, and with that he withdrew his hand to reveal a perfectly round, amazingly red tomato.

And that's when it happened.

Thin lips parted, eyes wide with excitement, Antonio peered at the fruit/vegetable thing and let out a sound. Lovino looked at him with his own look of confusion until Antonio repeated the sound, louder.

"T-toma..." He mumbled, eyes not leaving the object. "T...oma. T-toma. Toma." Lovino's eyes widened as he looked down at the tomato.

"Tomato?" He asked, hoping that Antonio wasn't just making random sounds and was actually /speaking/. Or trying to speak. A jerk of the head and a small twitch of the fingers confirmed that it was the tomato he was talking about.

But that wasn't all. After saying that, the bastard's hand twitched more then suddenly shot out, making a weak grab for the tomato. "Toma..."

Lovino let out a completely manly squeak and nearly dropped the fruit/vegetable, but managed to catch it and instead held it close to his body, throwing a glare at the bedridden man. "No! Dammit, this is my tomato!" He snapped.

The response was immediate. Antonio's eyes seemed to drain of all the excitement and happiness that they had filled with when they had first seen the tomato, and he turned his head to the side so all Lovino was left to look at was a head of too long curls. A deep, rumbling sigh escaped the patients lips.

Well, fuck. Feeling guilt rise up in him, Lovino gently nudged Antonio's shoulder. The bare, tan skin was visible through the thin gown. "I-I'm sorry Antonio. But you have your own lunch, si? Would you like to eat that?" He asked in a slightly guilty tone. Cocoa curls shook from left to right in a forced, jerky motion but Lovino's heart swelled with excitement. Antonio had just said no! Granted, Lovino had wanted him to say yes or simply allow Lovino to feed him, but this was amazing!

"C-come on, Antonio. It's just a tomato," Lovino said, his voice slightly shaking with excitement. He received the same response-a shake of the head and an even deeper sigh.

If Lovino didn't know any better, he would've thought that Antonio was trying to guilt him into giving him the tomato. W-which Lovino would never do! It was his tomato, he had been waiting to eat it!

"Mr. Carriedo? Antonio...? Come on, aren't you hungry?" Lovino asked as he gently nudged Antonio's shoulder again. Antonio made no movement. Well, fuck.

"Dammit! Fine! We can split the fucking tomato, happy now?" The auburn haired man snapped, loosing his gentle nurse appearance from moments ago. Well, as gentle as his nurse appearance got.

The figure on the bed shifted, and when Antonio turned his head to face Lovino, his expression had been turned into to a large, lopsided smile on his face and sparking green eyes instead of his dull and rather pitiful expression from earlier.

"You probably did this on purpose," Lovino huffed, just to let the bastard-no, /tomato/ bastard know that he was onto him. Antonio made no sign that he had heard him since his eyes were too focused on the red sphere in Lovino's hand. Rolling his eyes, Lovino looked off to the side as he thought. "Ok... Well I guess we can split it by taking turns buying it," he finally decided.

He wasn't deciding to split it that way because he /wanted/ to. It was simply because Antonio's current lunch contained none of those stupid plastic knives so he couldn't cut the tomato. And breaking it apart with his hands would just result in a huge fucking mess and he did not want to clean that up.

Antonio's only response to that statement was to part his lips and let his jaw hang open slightly, obviously indicating that he wanted the first bite. Lovino huffed slightly but leaned over and placed the cool object against the man's lips.

And just like that, Antonio practically ate the whole fucking thing. He leaned his head forward to accept more of the tomato into his mouth and bit down loosely, the pale red juices running freely down his chin as his jaw started moving to chew and a low noise of satisfaction came from him.

Lovino let out an indignant shreik and tried to take the tomato away, but Antonio had already eaten most of it. "Y-you...you bastard! You tomato bastard! You did that on purpose!" All the now fuming Italian got in response was a large, tomato covered grin.

"Toma," Antonio said, eyes on Lovino's face as said nurse was staring at the pitiful remains of the tomato. He looked up, however, when Antonio said that word again.

"W-what? No! You don't get anymore!" Lovino growled at the other as he hid the remains of the tomato from the other.

Antonio jerked his head again and kept his eyes trained on Lovino's no doubt red with fury face. "T-Toma," he repeated, his hand moving up in a forced motion and landing on Lovino's cheek.

Lovino's cheeks heated up even more under the contact. The hand felt cool and after a second slid loosely down Lovino's face and landed in his lap. "Toma. L...l...lov..." Antonio bit his lip as his lips gaped as they struggled to form words.

Lovino's eyes widened and he looked at Antonio. Oh fuck. Antonio was trying to form words. He was trying to talk!

"L..Lovi. Lovi Toma," Antonio said as he grinned up at Lovino's face. Lovino stared at him for a second, his mind processing what Antonio had just said.

And then it hit him. Antonio had just called him, Lovino Vargas, a tomato. God dammit. Lovino felt his cheeks burn even more as he looked down at the grinning patient, whose twitching hand was still laying limply in Lovino's lap. Lovino wasn't sure if he should be happy that Antonio was trying to talk, or if he should be pissed off that he had just been called a tomato. Instead he stared down at Antonio before suddenly sighing.

"You better not fucking tell any of the other nurses I did this..." Lovino mumbled as he offered the rest of the tomato to Antonio. "We're not supposed to give you food and all that crap," He added as he watched Antonio messily manage to finish off the tomato. The juices dripped off his chin and landed on the thin gown, creating dark spots against it. Lovino sighed as he saw this and allowed Antonio to finish off the tomato from his hand before getting a napkin.

The juices from the tomato had also mixed in with the soft chocolate curls that ran down Antonio's neck and Lovino brushed them away as he dabbed up the remains of the tomato. After he was done he looked at Antonio, who had turned his head to the side and was focusing on the wall as his hand curled slightly, his fingers seeming unsure of themselves as they felt each other. It reminded Lovino of a small child, still unsure about their newly mobile bodies that they could move on their own.

After a while Lovino snapped out I his thoughts and lifted Antonio's hand gingerly and placed it back on the bed. Antonio's response was a low hum and a shift of his body so he was looking at the ceiling now, his hands continuing their strange and childlike movements as they grasped and curled around the metal poles of the bed.

Standing up, Lovino looked down at him. "Well, since you're starting to talk now, your schedule's going to start to change. Get ready, next week you're going to meet your therapist, Mr. Williams."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi! Thank you all so much for the views and reviews and all that stuff. It really means a lot to me. This chapter is a little longer caused I crammed a lot of stuff in here, hope it's not too boring or anything. And don't worry! The whole think with Feli (you'll understand when you read, my young Jedi) will be explained in the foreseeable future. And I know usually nurses get paid a lot of money, and Lovino seems pretty poor, but that will be explained as well. And to answer the question, no, I don't work at a hospital, but I have had experience at them. I'm so glad that you all (hopefully) enjoy the story though! And this is kind of random, but am I the only one who thinks that the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog could totally be a spamano thing? I mean, the prince even already looks like Antonio! And I could totally imagine Lovino being all pissed at him for turning him into a frog...Yea...random...haha. By the way, do you know what would be good? Some art. Of Lovino. In a nurses outfit. And I think we all know what kind of nurse's outfit ;D *cough cough short skirt and heels* Hehe sorry just had to put that out there. **

**Anyways, sorry for any mistakes and I hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia**

Lovino closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly, the soft breeze from the open window in his apartment caressing his face. A hesitant smile made its way over his previously scowling face, and he felt himself relaxing. The weather was finally nice outside, spring was coming on full force and while people complained about allergies and changing the tires on their cars, Lovino was just glad that his apartment was no longer freezing. Honestly, the Italian preferred heat over cold, and while his and Feliciano's apartment did get rather hot and sticky during the summer, he would always remind himself that winter was ten times fucking worse because you had to waddle around dressed in so many layers you could hardly move.

Feliciano was more of a summer person, too. No doubt he was excited for the new spring, smiling and wanting to go outside to pick flowers, that crazy bastard. Lovino hadn't seen him today yet, save for breakfast, because he was at therapy with that weird German guy... What was his name again? Probably something like Hans. Or Potato.

Musing over several different names that strict, blonde therapist could have, the auburn haired Italian got up from his comfortable spot on the rather worn down couch next to the window, fueled only by his growling stomach to go to the kitchen for some food. Yes, Lovino could cook, but the simple fact was that he was too damn lazy to do it all the time. That and he didn't want to waste the first lunch break he had gotten in forever cooking food. Yes, he had finally convinced his strict, stick up his ass supervisor/boss to let him have his lunch breaks back. Well, only on the days when Antonio had therapy, but still. Lovino's mind fleetingly wondered how that was going. The therapist would be in charge of giving Antonio his lunch. He should have fun with that.

Speaking of lunch, Lovino settled on grabbing a tomato and a package of Chips Ahoy cookies that Feliciano always tried to hide from him at the bottom of the pantry, which really wasn't that big and you could pretty much see all food that there was. Lovino hadn't told him about his discovery, which had happened the first time he had even tried to hide them, but allowed his younger brother to obliviously believe that he had the small, preservative filled cookies to himself.

Deciding that his previous spot on the couch was the best place to enjoy his 'lunch', Lovino waltzed back over, opening the cookies along the way. He slid one out, popping it into his mouth while he did so because those fuckers were really small and could fit into anyone's mouth whole. Hell, Feliciano could stuff about four into his mouth with no problem.

Lovino plopped down, spreading his limbs out rather wildly on the couch, but who the hell cares? He was the only one home. He swallowed the cookie, and reached for another one when all of a sudden the last thing he wanted to happen, happened.

His fucking phone rang.

By instinct he felt his cheeks heat up as the lyrics came out of it and the music filled the room. /Besame besame mucho

Each time I bring you a kiss

I hear music divine

So besame besame mucho

I love you forever

Say that you'll always be mine.../

It honestly hadn't been his first choice as a ringtone, b-but dammit he liked the sound of it, ok? He had first heard it when he was on vacation in England, which sucked by the way cause there was a ton of rain and the British people kept on chasing him with plates of 'food' that looked like it was going to come alive and eat him instead. W-well, the view was pretty nice...and the street artists were amazing. Anyways, the small group that played outside his hotel had played the song, and Lovino had been in love with it ever since. They were a small group of British players that traveled the streets, not looking for money but looking to spread joy. One of the group members would go into the audience and dance with whoever wanted to, male or female, twirling around and laughing. He had grabbed Lovino on his last day at the hotel, and this was the song they danced to. He had really pretty eyes, Lovino could remember that. Chocolate brown and almond shaped, with lashes that seemed too long for a guy but fitted him perfectly.

Lovino just always made sure his phone was on low volume in public places, not that people called him often, but still. Cause that would be embarrassing, dammit. However, the fact that he liked his ringtone and was now absentmindedly tapping his foot along to the best still didn't mean he wanted to pick up his phone. At all.

It wasn't that he didn't like talking to people... It was just that... Well, this was his free time, dammit! And he was sure whoever the hell was calling him wasn't calling him for a good reason. It could be his bitch of an ex-boyfriend, Sadiq, calling again. Or maybe Bella wanted to chat during her lunch break, because that lucky bitch still got one, or maybe... Dammit. Maybe it was Feli and he needed a ride home or something or his therapist got sick of him, like the twelve other therapists before, and kicked him out or...

Well, it was only because the thought of his younger brother propped outside the physical therapy building in his crappy wheelchair was too unbearable to think about that Lovino answered the phone, with much hesitance and a mouthful of cookie.

"What the hell do you want?" He snapped into the now silent object, his rather embarrassing ringtone having stopped the moment he picked it up. He was pretty sure the person on the other end of the phone probably couldn't understand a word of what he just said since he had taken the opportunity of staring at the phone and listening to his ringtone to stuff another cookie into his mouth, and he hadn't exactly chewed it completely by the time he said his oh so wonderful greeting.

There was a slight pause on the other end, then, "P-pardon? In sorry, I didn't quite get that," a very soft, very hesitant, and a very polite sounding voice came through the phone. Well, of all the people on the list that Lovino thought would call him, they were obviously...none of them. And the list wasn't even that long either.

Instead of repeating his admittedly rude greeting, the Italian instead swallowed down his dry mouthful of cookies and asked who the hell this was, in a tone that wasn't really any nicer than his greeting tone but this person was interrupting his free time dammit, he could be rude if he wanted to be.

There was a soft sigh on the other side of the phone and the sound of something rustling. "This is Matthew Williams, Antonio's speech therapist, eh?" He said in a quiet voice in one of those tones that said 'You do remember hearing about me, right?'. "This is Lovino Vargas...am I correct?" He asked with some hesitance, as it he was afraid he had the wrong person and they were going to file a police report on him. But then again, with how Lovino was sounding in this conversation, he figured he did kind of sound like the kind of person to do that.

Running a hand through his normally straight hair but now ruffled up hair, Lovino puffed out his cheeks and release his own sigh. "Si... This is Lovino," he said as he shifted the phone to his left shoulder so he could use his right hand to easily pick up the remaining cookies. If Antonio's speech therapist was calling, it probably wasn't for a good reason. Antonio probably tried to do something stupid, like get up again and ended up knocking down his bed, the therapist, and a whole fucking hospital wall while he was at it.

"Ok, good," The voice said in a relieved tone. "I'm calling regarding Antonio... According to what you've written, he has made attempts to speak in the past, correct?"

Quickly swallowing the cookies in his mouth, Lovino played with the tomato in his other hand. "Si, he has. He tried saying my name, and...the food he was eating," he grumbled, looking down at the glossy red orb in his hands. He knew he couldn't tell anyone he gave that manipulative little fucker a tomato, patients were only supposed to eat hospital food. And yes, he was still convinced that Antonio had guilt tricked him into giving him the tomato.

"Right," the voice said, taking him out of his musings. "Well, you see, Antonio isn't exactly doing any of that. In fact, he's hardly making any sounds at all. We tried calling Dr. Bonnefoy, but he said that you had all the records on him and were the one who spent the most time with him," the voice said with a slightly apologetic undertone. "W-we... Well, I was hoping that perhaps you could stop by and help me with Antonio.."

Matthew's-that was his name, right?-sentence was cut off by a rather loud and annoyed groan from Lovino. He couldn't believe it. Even in his free time Antonio needed him in some way. And he didn't get it. He had been there when the Spaniard had messily said his name, and even tried saying 'tomato'! Why couldn't Antonio just act like a normal patient for once?

Standing up and stretching his back, earning a few satisfying cracks, he grunted a quick, "I'll be there in ten minutes," into the phone before hanging up. He sighed and looked longingly at the open window, walking over to shut it as he took one last deep breath of the fresh air before he lifted his arms up and gripped the chipped top part and shut it tightly, locking it before he headed to pick up his car keys from the table. On the way he paused to look at the forgotten tomato that sat, nestled against a cushion. He sighed and grabbed it, figuring he could eat it there.

Deciding against taking his coat, since it really was nice out that day, Lovino shut the heavy wooden apartment door, jamming his keys in and locking it as well. He still remembered the one day when he came home and found half of his and Feliciano's stuff gone because some fucker had robbed them, so he had to make sure to lock everything now. He had never seen Feliciano so heartbroken when he had looked around, discovering that his favorite coat and hat, that their dad had passed down to him, were no where to be seen, along with the computer, T.V., and several vases and paintings that had formerly adorned the otherwise plain apartment.

Sticking the keys in his pocket, Lovino ran a hand through his hair once again, although this time it was in an attempt to smooth it down. Not that he really care what this Matthew person thought he looked like. Heading down the stairs, Lovino nodded to the front desk person, who was reading a newspaper. "Ciao, Alfred," he said when Alfred grinned wildly at him and waved.

"Hey Lovi!" The blonde said enthusiastically. "Dallas Cowboys dominated last night," he stated, waving the newspaper a little. "You should've seen the game! It was amazing! I invited Arthur but he was too busy with paperwork ever since he got out of the hospital since he was really behind and he said he refused to watch a sport that shouldn't be called football since he's all British and stuff and he thinks soccer should be called football, but he's going a little crazy from all that tea that he drinks and this new French guy whose been giving him a ton of French pastries, don't ya think? And-"

Lovino cut him off with a glare. "I have to go, idiot." Alfred merely grinned at the insult, he was used to Lovino's rather harsh vocabulary by now. He was probably immune to insults because of Arthur too. "And by the way, soccer is football, not that rediculous sport you Americans play," Lovino added as he walled towards the door that connected to a parking garage.

Alfred shouted something behind him, but by then Lovino had shut the door and couldn't hear him. The happy, go lucky American owned the apartment complex with his friend and older brother figure, Arthur. Although, Alfred had to hire someone to replace Arthur for a while named Kiku since Arhtur had landed himself in the hospital for something. Lovino had never actually met the Arthur who owned the complex, since he was apparently in charge of all the paperwork and what not. Alfred probably didn't have an attention span to do anything like that, so he was in charge with all the people related things. Greeting guests, hiring people, that kind of shit. He had met Kiku, however, who was a painfully polite Japanese man who hit it off with Feliciano right away.

The parking garage was cool and Lovino almost wished he had brought his coat. He shrugged the feeling off, instead hugging his arms as he hurried to his and Feliciano's shared car. It was a old, battered up red Alfasud. The paint was peeling, it smelled like gasoline, the seats were tearing, and Lovino loved it.

Sure, it was a little old, but who cares? It was his first car and he remembered how excited he was to see it parked in the driveway, red paint thick and bright, shining in the sun and looking much better than it was now since Feliciano had spent the night washing and waxing it. It was second hand when he got it, not that he minded. He was just glad to have a car, and a red one at that. Red was his favorite fucking color after all.

Unlocking the door and slipping in, he placed the dejected tomato in the passengers seat and inserted the keys. After a few twists and growled swears in Italian, the car spurted to life with a low growl, it's entire frame shaking from the power of the engine. Of course, since he was a bad ass fantastic Italian driver, Lovino didn't have to follow road rules. Obviously. And that is why he managed to get the the hospital in little more that five minutes, even though it was supposed to be a fifteen minute drive.

Parking in his usual parking space, Lovino got out, then stuck his head back in to grab the tomato. Like hell was he letting it go to waste. He was still hungry, dammit. Slamming the door and locking the car, Lovino stormed to the hospital entrance and towards Antonio's room.

He couldn't believe it. Really. He had been looking forwards to lazing around and maybe flipping through the new Armani catalogue because he's classy like that, even though he could never afford any of that crap. And then he probably would've eaten a few more tomatoes or something before heading back to the hospital and taking care of Antonio until he had to go to pick up Feli. It sounded like such a relaxing, non work filled afternoon. Sure, he had to go back to the hospital after, but at least he would be less stressed and what not.

Turning the corner that headed towards the Spaniard's room, Bella looked up from her clipboard and grinned at him. "Hey cutie!" She sang as he shot her a death glare before softening his look.

"Hey Bella... What are you doing here? Isn't it your lunch break now?" He asked as he glanced towards Antonio's room then back at her.

The blonde's shoulders moved up and down a little bit and she tilted her head. "Yea it is, but my brother wanted to go on a skiing trip with me, so I have to make sure all my work is caught up on," he said in a bored voice, waving the papers on her clipboard around for emphasis.

Lovino raised an eyebrow at her. "A skiing trip? In spring?" He asked in a slight disbelieving voice. The cheerful nurse just smiled however.

"Well, there's also this gorgeous tulip festival that goes on every year on the way to the skiing resort, so we're going to stop by there! That's what I'm really excited about," she said a little dreamily. Lovino bit back a small smile at the sight. Bella really could be pleased by simple things, like tulip festivals. And that was a good thing. It was best to enjoy the small things in life, since those are the things you're going to miss when they're finally gone. Because that's another thing that Lovino realized: nothing good lasts forever.

"So what are you doing here yourself? You kept on talking about how happy you were to finally have your lunch break back, but you're here! Do you miss the hospital food so much you decided to eat lunch here instead?" She asked with a small wink, lifting a hand to adjust her grass green headband.

Lovino gave a sarcastic snort and shook his head. "As if, that stuff is shit," he said. "And Antonio's damn therapist called and asked me for help with that bastard," he explained somberly, glancing down the hallway once again.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at this, her lips curving into a rather catlike smile. "And you actually came? Awww. So dedicated to your patients," she cooed in a teasing tone, using the hand that had been fixing her hair band to pinch Lovino's now light pink cheeks. He gently batted her hands away.

"I'm not dedicated dammit, I j-just felt a little bad for the poor bastard who has to work with Antonio so I decided to take pity on him just this once!" Lovino stated dramatically, his cheeks puffed out slightly in annoyance. Bella simply nodded and laughed slightly.

"If you say so. Well, I have a lotta stuff to get done, and your patient that you love oh so much is waiting for you," she said with another wink. "See ya!" And with that she gave the auburn haired nurse a small wave and started walking again, her white sneakers softly squeaking against the polished floor the only sound for a moment before Lovino decided to start to get going himself.

He hesitated outside of Antonio's door, not hearing any noise inside. He frowned, pressing an ear to the door. Nothing. With a small shrug, he placed the hand that wasn't holding the rather pathetic remains of his lunch to twist open the knob and he stepped in.

The scene he stepped into wasn't very chaotic or crazy or in ruins, which Lovino had half expected. How a brain damaged patient could manage to make a therapy session any of those things was beyond Lovino, but he was sure Antonio could do it if he felt like it. But no, there was no globs of chunky gravy dripping from the ceiling or a hospital bed half outside the window while a chained up therapist was screaming for someone to get him off of it. Instead, the bed had been pushed slightly to one side of the room, while the untouched hospital food sat on its cart in the corner. There were four chairs set up in a circle like structure in the center of the room, and three of the chairs were occupied.

The first one was hosting none other than Antonio himself, who had his arms dangling off the chair and was looking out the window with an uncharacteristically moody look on his normally silly looking face. The person next to him Lovino couldn't see the front of since his back was to him, but silvery colored hair that was sticking up in all directions peeked out from the edge of it. The last chair that was occupied, and the one that was facing the door, had a slim honey blonde male seated on it. He had a strange hair curl that spiraled off to the side and a pair of rectangle shaped, lense less glasses perched on the edge of his nose. A mix of purple and blue colored eyes looked towards the door, and when they landed on Lovino a small smile formed on the man's face.

"M-mr. Vargas! Hello, welcome! I-I was almost afraid you weren't going to show up, you know," he informed the Italian, who had stepped all the way in and gently shut the door behind him.

"Oh, calm the fuck down. I was a few minutes late, I was just talking to a friend," Lovino grumbled as he walked over to the remaining chair that was in between the therapist and the silvery haired man.

A hand was offered to him as soon as he sat down, and Lovino shook it, his darker skin tone a contrast to the blonde's paler skin. "Matthew Williams," he said softly.

"Lovino Vargas. Don't call me Mr. Vargas again, it sounds weird," Lovino said bluntly as he looked around in the direction of the silver haired man, who had just made a garbled sound that could somewhat be deciphered to: 'Hey Mattie, who the fuck is this guy?'. Really, it could, except for the fact that the beginning started out with a horrible stutter and the words were slurred together and somewhat mashed up. Lovino was surprised when he noticed the face of the patient was rather young looking, seeing as the silver hair had been an indication that the man was old. When Lovino saw the two red eyes that were looking steadily at him, however, the hair was explained. He must be an albino, unless he dyed his hair that color and wore contacts. Lovino doubted it, however, because the paper white skin was also a dead giveaway.

"Ah... I hope you don't mind I brought along another patient of mine," Matthew said apologetically as he nervously moved his glasses further up his nose. "Gilbert refuses to speak when seperated from me," he added in an embarrassed tone which caused the albino-Gilbert-to grin.

"Well that's just fucking fantastic," Lovino muttered sarcastically as he looked at the red eyed man. The honey haired man shot him an exasperated look. "Well, Antonio seems to be doing the same for you!" He pointed out with a pink tint to his cheeks that was no doubt brought on by Lovino's comment.

Lovino rolled his eyes and gently pushed Gilbert's hand off, since he had taken up to repeatedly poking Lovino's arm. His movements were a bit jerky and unsure, but the albino seemed to be on a good route to recovery. Lovino briefly wondered what had happened to him. "That's not true. The bastard hadn't even looked at me since I walked in here. He's fascinated by the clouds outside the window," Lovino said as he gestured towards the bright blue sky where fat, white clouds were lazily drifting around. "And tell your boy toy to stop poking me!" Lovino added as he brushed Gilbert's hand away.

"H-he's not my... Oh, never mind," Matthew grumbled as he turned to Gilbert. "Gilbert, no. No poking Lovino," he said sternly.

"B-b-buuut I wannapooke him," Gilbert managed to get out, flashing the irritated looking therapist a grin. It was different from Antonio's goofy, happy grins. This one was more of a sly, evil looking one. It suited the pale face and strong jaw line of the man perfectly, so Lovino understood why Matthew was currently blushing since the grin was directed at him.

"A-anyways, he's been ignoring us after the first fifteen minutes. He probably hasn't even noticed you yet,eh?" Matthew said as Gilbert himself turned towards the tan man and started blowing raspberries to get his attention. "Gilbert, you are not two years old, don't make me send a bad report back to Ludwig!" Matthew added on a threatening tone and Gilbert immediately stopped, slumping back in his seat with a pout.

Lovino rolled his eyes at the two then gave a sarcastic cough to get their attention. "Fine, therapist bastard, I'll prove to you that whatever the hell you and albino face over here have going on is not going on with me and tomato bastard," he said as he got up, leaving the tomato in his seat. One look at Gilbert's red eyes that were trained on the round object in his seat made him quickly reach back to get it and clutch it protectively to his chest as he walked over to Antonio's seat.

"Oi. Bastard. Hey," he said in an attempt to get his attention. Antonio's face remained facing the window, green eyes unfocused. "Hey! You! Fuckface!" Lovino snapped, getting annoyed. It was only when Lovino reached a hand out to poke Antonio's darker colored cheek did he respond.

With a dull interest painted on his face, Antonio turned his head to look at whoever had poked his cheek. As soon as his glazed over eyes landed on Lovino's pissed off form, they cleared up, however. And, although this part may have just been Lovino's imagination, they seemed to lighten up a little bit. Their former dark, velvety green color seemed to melt into a bright, sunlight covered emerald color that sparkled and took your very breath away. He really did have beautiful eyes. And right now they were trained on Lovino. Just as the Italian turned to tell Matthew that he was right, Antonio still hadn't spoken, the last thing he expected to fucking happen, happened.

"Lovi!" Antonio's cheerful voice was the only warning before suddenly Lovino felt a heavy weight around his waist. Alarmed, he looked down to see Antonio's tan arms wrapped loosely around him, the patient's chest leaning against his lower legs as he slowly slid out of the chair to land on the floor with a thump. The Italian flushed as he heard two distinct snickers come from behind as Antonio laid, sprawled out on the floor with Lovino being the only think holding him up. And that wasn't working out so good because the nurse was loosing his balance. Fast.

"Y-you stupid bast-!" Lovino was cut off as Antonio's weight became too much for him and he fell to the floor in an ever so graceful heap, Antonio's arms still on his waist and the tomato rolling out of his hand.

"Toma," Antonio remarked. Lovino turned his head to glare at him, although he had to look down slightly. While Lovino was sitting up, Antonio was practically laying down with his head tilted back, chin testing on the Italian's stomach and green eyes twinkling. His eyes, however, weren't on the dejected tomato that had landed somewhere near the food cart, from what Lovino could tell, but on Lovino's no doubt bright red face.

"...right. What's going on between me and Gilbert is definitely not going on between you and Antonio," Matthew's voice suddenly said. Gilbert was laughing behind his hand in the seat, his head thrown back as his chest shook. Lovino turned his burning face away from Antonio's smiling one to shoot the blonde a glare. To his surprise Matthew just smirked in response. Lovino wasn't so sure why he was surprised, it just seemed like the rather petite therapist was too polite to do anything like that. He hadn't even yelled at Lovino for his swearing yet, and that was something everybody did. Perhaps it was because Gilbert didn't have the cleanest vocabulary.

"Get off me, you stupid tomato bastard," Lovino growled as he turned his head back to Antonio's face. His tan face was surrounded by strands of his curly hair that had fallen loose from the ponytail. Gently taking Antonio's wrists between his thumb and his forefinger, Lovino pried his arms off of him and let Antonio's head fall on the floor, which earned him a whine from chapped, parted lips.

Matthew got up from his seat and walked over, crouching down. "Need some help, eh?" He asked, sarcasm still present in his tone. Lovino managed to shoot him another glare, but his head moved up and down in a hesitant nod at the same time.

"Just help me get this idiot back into his seat and make him talk again or whatever shit you do," he grumbled, Italian accent thickening in his embarrassment. It was a habit of both Lovino and his brother. Whenever they got overly happy, or sad, or embarrassed, or, and this part occurs to mainly Lovino, mad, their Italian accents would become more pronounced. They had lived in Italy since Lovino was seventeen, but when they got here no one understood them so they had to somewhat adapt to the American accent.

Matthew looked surprised for a moment before smiling. "I can't just snap my fingers and make him talk again, Mario," he said as he went onto his knees and shuffled around to Antonio's back, his hands lifting underneath his arms. When the blonde looked up, his smile turned into a smirk not unlike the one Gilbert wore before when he saw Lovino's face turn red.

"Toma," Antonio remarked again, grinning lazily as Lovino shuffled forwards to grip Antonio's hips. They were pretty slim, muscular. At least he didn't turn to mush from the hospital food.

"Call me that again and I'll gorge your throat out with a plastic hospital spork," Lovino threatened, trying to keep his voice steady as Matthew raised a single eyebrow at him. "On three," Lovino added after. He could feel Antonio's hot breath on his neck.

Matthew nodded, taking a breath. "One.." Lovino tightened his grip. "Two...three!" Both men grunted in effort as they lifted Antonio up, Lovino pushing on his hips to sear him in the chair. Matthew quickly moved out of the way so Antonio wasn't sitting on him, looking at the grinning Spaniard with an amused smile. "Oh, and by the way, I don't recall there being sporks at hospitals," Matthew said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Well, here they have them. And forks and spoons and those crappy knives that couldn't cut through melted butter to save their lives," Lovino responded as he let go of Antonio.

"Right. Well, I guess we can sit down again. Gilbert, do you think you can walk to Lovino's old seat? I think Antonio would want him sitting next to him," Matthew said. Lovino opened his mouth to protest, but Matthew cut him off with a strict look. "Antonio may work better if he's seated next to you," he explained as Gilbert looked at everybody.

"Ssssaaaay... That I'm aweeesome," Gilbert demanded, dragging out the last word as he looked at Matthew and tilted his head to the side. "C-cause. I aaam. Awesssssome," he said, grinning.

"Fine. You're awesome. Not awesssssome, but awesome. Repeat," Matthew said sternly as Gilbert stuck his tongue out.

"Awessome."

"Awesome, Gilbert. Awesome." Matthew urged, fixing his glasses. Lovino watched, perplexed as he walked a little bit closer. Gilbert bit his lip, mouthing the word before trying it again.

"...awesome.." Matthew's entire face lit up and he smiled proudly. "...awesome," Gilbert repeated, the hesitance in his voice disappearing. "Awesome!" He said, and he grinned wildly. He got up shakily, stumbling over to Matthew and throwing his arms around the honey blonde. "Awesome, Mattie," he whispered in his ear as a way of thanks and causing the therapist's cheeks to stain red. And then he pulled away and stumbled over to Lovino's old seat.

Lovino was still standing, a look of surprise and understanding on his face as Gilbert repeated his new word to himself. When he finally got the sense to start moving his own ass back to his new seat, he blinked, and suddenly remembered the tomato. He quickly walked over to it and grabbed it before he sat down and looked at Antonio.

"Lovi...b-bing..toma?" The green eyed man asked with a note of hopefulness in his voice as he looked at the tomato. Lovino could feel Matthew looking at them as he slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah, you tomato bastard. I brought this for you." Antonio's face lit up like the sun, and thus Antonio's-no, Antonio's and Lovino's first session of speech therapy started.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! I can't believe you guys have such a positive feedback on this story, I love you all so much! I was going to include the physical therapy session in this chapter, but it seemed too long so I'm holding back. You get to meet 'Hans' and Feli next chapter! **

**I'm not sure if I like this chapter very much, I just needed to introduce the lovely Francis and show how little Lovi and Toni are bonding... Djskssnnd I hope I did OK. Does anyone else think its funny when in Social Studies the teacher says that one country 'invades' another? FRANCE JUST INVADED ENGLAND AND CONQUERED ITS VITAL REGIONS. I think that sometimes I should be sent to a mental place for thinking things that I shouldn't... Hehe... Anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I never will own hetalia.**

Shoulder length, wavy golden blonde hair that looked soft to the touch. Porcelain skin that covered high cheekbones and was covered by a stubble over a graceful looking chin. Long, blonde eyelashes that covered the eyes of a rapist-or rather, as Francis put it, eyes of a lover- and a thick, outrageous French accent. This was Doctor Francis Bonnefoy.

Lovino wasn't really surprised that he had gone into medicine. It would be a good excuse for the guy to grope innocent patients, no doubt. Not that Francis had groped any patients that Lovino had seen, but he had groped nurses, other doctors, the superintendent, and a women who had just broke up with her husband after finding out that he was in the hospital to watch his other wife give birth to his son. Which, to clarify, was definitely not her son. Isn't the world a fantastic place full of surprises? Anyways, Lovino had his reasons to be suspicious, especially since that fucker had greeted him on his first day on the job by sliding his hand down Lovino's back and squeezing his ass while asking in a low voice of they could get to know each other better that night, along with a wink and the most peverted laugh Lovino had ever heard before.

Of course, the Italian had responded any way a normal person would; he kicked that mother fucker in the balls then ran to hide behind the nearest gurney. Lovino had been too afraid to go within ten feet of the Frenchman for the first couple of weeks, but after a while he realized that Francis, as the doctor insisted Lovino called him since calling him 'Doctor Bonnefoy' all the time was too formal, never actually did anything with you unless you wanted to. And surprisingly, a lot of people wanted to. What they saw to be appealing in the Frenchman, Lovino would never know. When Lovino got over his initial fear of being raped by his coworker, the two of them turned out to be a rather exceptional team in the hospital. Sure, there would be setbacks were Lovino would use the patient's oxygen tank to beat the living crap out of Francis for a few seconds since the blonde had tried to feel how plump his ass really was, but other than those times they really did work well together.

Which made Lovino pissed that Francis had suddenly decided to waltz into Antonio's room after two months of Lovino being assigned to him and flashed the auburn haired nurse an ever so charming smile, as if he hadn't been doting over their last patient while neglecting their current one, and announced, "Mon cheri, I am here now! This is our new patient, non?"

It wasn't that the statement was bad, it was just that Francis hadn't even fucking acknowledged that fact that Lovino had been working his ass off to take care of Antonio by himself! Bristling, Lovino stood up from his crouched position over by the food cart where he had been trying to straighten out one of the wheels which was now crooked due to Antonio's wheelchair accidentally running over if, and marched over to Francis. The blonde seemed to get the murderous vibes rolling off of the Italian, because he immediately started backing away slowly, his hands up in front of him in a surrendering position. "N-now...Mon ami...Let's not do anything rash..." he said with a slightly weaker smile as Lovino contined to approach.

"No. No fucking way," Lovino said lowly under his breath. "Two months. Two god damned months you decided to dump all this work onto me!" Lovino growled as he lifted his hand up to reveal the fact that he had grabbed a crappy plastic fork from the food cart that, no matter how crappy it looked, would still probably hurt if it was being shoved down your throat.

Francis paled as he started taking backward steps, away from the angry Italian. "I-I was taking care of Arth-Mr. Kirkland, though!" He protested in a rather high pitched voice as his back hit the wall next to the door. Lovino simply continued his steady approach, fork held out threateningly.

Although, at the words, he paused to give Francis a wry smile that gave the blonde chills. Lovino in general wasn't a scary person, but at times he really could get his point across. Francis was starting to fear that this may be one of those times. "Oh, I see. You were taking care of Mr. Kirkland, who, last I checked, left this fucking hospital pretty god damned healthy!" Lovino said, his voice hushed in the beginning of the sentance but escalating to a louder pitch near the end. "And while you were off screwing with dear Mr. Kirkland, I was stuck here, hauling my ass to get all the tests and bloodwork and theropy done! I haven't had a good nights sleep in weeks, dammit! And guess what? I can't take a damn nap during lunch time cause my lunch break is spent here, taking care of-!" Just as the now red faced nurse was about to finish his 'I'm really pissed off at you, and if you don't do something to calm me down in the next point two seconds I will shove this fork into your eye sockets then run away while laughing' speech, there was some shifting from the bed.

"Lovi...? Wha youuuu doin...?" A garbled sentance made its way from the bed, concern clear in the voice of the owner of it. Lovino calmed down in record timing, something that Francis, who was pretty sure he had wet his pants when Lovino had lifted the fork up threateningly, was immensely greateful for. "Lovi?" The voice called again and Lovino sighed as he dropped the fork and walked over to the bed.

Francis exhaled, ran his fingers through his hair, and tentatively followed the Italian to the bed. Two emerald eyes stared up at him, and a smile broke out over the bedridden man's face. "Who a youuu?" He asked in a childish voice, one hand messily reaching over to take Francis' own hand. Gilbert, who was ahead of Antonio in both physical and speech therapy, had tried to teach a confused Antonio 'the awesome wayssss of hand shakin', which was actually pretty funny to watch. Sure, Antonio had tried his own version of handshaking, but Gilbert had tried to perfect it. Lovino had been so proud when, on the way back from their session which had been held in the cafeteria for that day, Antonio had reached out from his wheelchair and snatched the sausage fingered woman's hand and jerked it up and down vigorously. Sure, the fat ass woman had screamed that Antonio, or rather, 'This mentally unstable monster!' was attacking her and a few security guards had to come, but it was worth it. Even though later the woman tripped Lovino while he was walking to the parking lot.

He was now trying to shake a rather startled Francis' hand, his own tan hand gripping the pale skinned one as he jerked his arm around. Instead of their hands going up and down neatly, as Gilbert had done when he showed Antonio how to do it, they went all over the place, hitting the side of the bed quite a few times before Antonio let go and beamed up at Francis, who dropped the startled expression and instead gave the cheerful looking man a warm smile of his own.

"Ah, you are the new patient, non? I am Doctor Francis Bonnefoy," Francis purred as Lovino stood off to the side with his arms crossed, glowering and muttering about how Antonio wasn't exactly new. Francis ignored him as he looked down at the green eyed man. "Can you say that? Francis?" he asked in a kind of baby voice.

Antonio looked at the blonde, then over at the still rather angry looking Lovino. "Lovi...?" he called while ignoring the Frenchman for the moment. Lovino looked up as Antonio swung his hand in Lovino's general direction and Lovino blushed slightly. He had learned that when Antonio did this, he wanted to hold Lovino's hand. And unless Lovino complied, nothing got done. And he means nothing, cause Antonio had even flat out refused to bathe unless Lovino was holding his hand the whole time. The nurse shuffled closer, ignoring Francis' eyes that were practically burning a fucking hole into the back of his head right now, and took the patient's hand in his own. Antonio's large, soft fingers wrapped around Lovino's rather small looking ones, and he gripped on tightly, a lopsided grin on his face.

Francis raised an eyebrow at the scene. An ecstatic looking patient who was clinging onto a now bright red Lovino's hand. Lovino Vargas, who hated physical affection, who hated touching people in general, who hated hand smiling and hugging and all that stuff, had willingly walked over to a patient, and held his hand. However, as the blonde opened his mouth to say something about this, Antonio beat him to talking. "Fanny," he said as he looked at Francis, tilting his head. Lovino let out a snort and Francis looked slightly appalled.

Antonio looked between the two, confused by their reactions. Francis quickly gave the confused man a charming smile. "Ah, I think you meant to say Francis," he said as he leaned closer to the bedridden man, who looked even more confused now.

"Fancy," he tried again as he squeezed Lovino's hand at the same time that Francis leaned closer. Lovino rolled his eyes but didn't move to stop Francis. He knew from experience that the Frenchman had no concept of personal space whatsoever, and that he would be practically sitting on Antonio's lap before he noticed that he was close to the patient.

Francis let out a half sigh, half annoyed huff as he flipped his hair behind his shoulder and pouted slightly. "I suppose that's better than Fanny," he said. "But how come Lovino here gets the cute nickname of Lovi and I, the all amazing and sexy doctor, get stuck with Fancy?" He questioned as Lovino rolled his eyes yet again. Antonio's only response was a grin at the other and Francis' pout melted away as he chuckled.

"Well, I suppose I can't really get mad at you, mon cher, you are just too cute!" He said as he pinched one of Antonio's cheeks, which caused the tan patient to grin more. Francis turned to the slightly less mad Lovino and smirked when his eyes landed on their still connected hands. "And I see that you've made Lovi-"

"Don't call me that!" Lovino hissed as he glared at Francis, who merely laughed his perverted as fuck laugh and waved of his comment.

"...Lovino, I see you've made Lovino more accustomed to physical affection. Perhaps he will be more open to me now.." Francis had oozed closer to the paling nurse and had nearly slipped an arm around his waist when Lovino quickly used Antonio's arm as a barrier between the two. Antonio was, in fact, squeezing his hand very tightly but he didn't pay any mind to it.

Lovino instead was focusing on giving a glare to the blonde that was filled with all the amazing and wonderful threats Lovino would be saying, if he had been thinking more clearly. "N-not in front of Antonio!" He snapped, holding the patient's arm higher and waving it around like a weapon. Francis had stepped back, laughing slightly.

"I know you will come around one day, mon ami! No one can resist my love! I was not going to try anything, you know, since I have currently obtained a new affection that I will convince to accept my love-"

"Francis, I really don't give a fuck about your sex life," Lovino interrupted flatly, shaking Antonio's hand off of his own with some difficulty and ignoring the whine that his action earned from the bedridden man. "And by the way, what time is it?" He asked, glancing outside. It was summer now, finally, and he made sure to keep the windows open for Antonio so he could at least get a taste of the warm weather. Bella had extended her vacation with her brother to last most of the summer, and Lovino missed her a lot. Not that he'd ever admit it, of course. Bella's patients were given to a sassy nurse that went by the name of Feliks and Lovino had managed to convince him to keep the windows open for them as well. As for the other patients at the hospital, Lovino wasn't so sure if the doctors or nurses allowed them to keep their windows open. He hoped they did.

Francis sighed dramatically. "Love life," he corrected half heartedly as he lifted his wrist up and moved the sleeve back to reveal his rather feminine looking watch. "It is around...twelve fifteen," he said, lowering his sleeve.

Lovino's eyes widened and he swore under his breath, before swearing louder. "Crap! We're late for Antonio's physical therapy!" He said as he frantically pressed the button to raise Antonio's bed as Francis tilted his head.

"He is taking physical therapy already?" He asked as Lovino rushed past him to get Antonio's wheelchair.

"No, dipshit, this is his first meeting and we're late! Matthew, his speech therapist, suggested this guy Ludwig or whatever. Apparently he's Gilbert's older br-oh, fuck!" Lovino swore and clutched his foot, seeing as he ran over it with the wheelchair by accident. He let go of the wheelchair and swore a few more times before putting his foot gingerly down.

Francis sighed and walked over, taking the wheelchair and leading it towards the raised bed. Antonio gave him a questioning look as the blonde started to lift him up, messily depositing his body into the wheelchair. Antonio's arms limply laid out to the side and Francis had to bend down to lift each of his legs up and secure them to the chair with the velcro straps so they wouldn't drag as they rolled the wheelchair. "I suppose I should ask who Gilbert is. And Matthew Williams is an amazing therapist, and quite good in bed as well, especially if he has just came from a hockey game," Francis sighed dreamily as an all too familiar perverted smile crept onto his face. "True, he was completely wasted, but mmmm," he pauses to lick his lips, "Angry sex is hot sex, non?" He asked breezily to a now rather horrified looking Lovino. Matthew, the quiet, polite, sarcastic but sweet therapist had sex with Francis?

The nurse shuddered at the thought and shook his head as started taking off his scrubs, Francis watching with a perverted grin. The grin fell slightly when he saw that Lovino was wearing a white t-shirt underneath his hospital uniform however. "Mon ami, what is the point of a strip tease if you have clothes on underne-" the rest of the Frenchman's sentence was muffled under the now balled up pants of the scrubs that Lovino had thrown at Francis' face.

"You're a fucking pervert, and no, I'm not nude underneath my fucking hospitals scrubs," Lovino growled as he stepped up to Antonio's wheelchair, wearing some loose fitting, light colored denim jeans in place of his now on the floor uniform. He kicked the brake stand up and started rolling the grinning Spaniard out the door in a hurry, an anxious look still on his face.

Francis trailed behind with what e hoped was a sexy and alluring pout on his face, shutting the door behind them as Lovino speed walked down the hallways and ignored. "So, where exactly is this therapist place?" Francis inquired, pushing the button for the ground floor on the elevator. When it started to take too long, the irritated Italian starting jamming the pale orange button multiple times, growling in annoyance.

"I don't fucking know what it's called, it's some therapist place. My brother is actually going there now-finally!" Lovino cried as the elevator opened to release a gaggle of nurses, gossiping no doubt. They took their time coming out of the elevator, ignoring Lovino and Antonio but giggling and flirtily waving at Francis, who was more than happy to return the gestures as he stepped inside the elevator after Lovino had slunk in.

Francis pushed the close door button, sighing dreamily as he watches the nurses walk away, or rather, watches their asses walk away. Not that you could really see their shape through the scrubs, but Francis tried to anyways. "If only mon cheri Arthur had not stolen my heart, I could have so much fun," the blonde purred as Lovino rolled his eyes. Antonio simply grinned up at him.

"Fancy," he said, a hand twitching slightly at his side. Francis sighed and patted the tan patient's head of overly long curls.

"Oui, Antonio, Fancy..." he said in a dejected tone that still indicated that he was still disappointed about his nickname at the moment.

"Get over it," Lovino scoffed as a light ding sounded from the elevator speakers, indicating that the elevator had arrived on the ground floor. "Now hurry the fuck up and sign Antonio out, I have to strap into the car," Lovino commanded as he rolled Antonio to the side parking lot where the hospital had some cars stocked for the handicapped patients if they ever needed transportation, but didn't need to use an ambulance. The Italian hit the handicap button and shifted in annoyance as the door slowly opened. When it was finally wide enough, he pushed Antonio through, heading for a maroon colored car with a backseat built for a wheelchair before Antonio's voice suddenly stopped him.

"C-cloouud," the accented voice said in slight wonderment and Lovino froze in his advances, suddenly feeling guilty. Of course... This was the first time Antonio had been outside in a while. It was only now, with his rapidly improving state, that the hospital was allowing for him to be discharged. Of course, for only small periods of time and of a medical assistant was with him at all times, but still. Lovino watched as the curly haired man lifted a hand up shakily and waved it around slightly, a wide and crooked smile on his face as he closed his emerald eyes and let a soft breeze brush past his face with a sigh of contentment. Lovino continued to stare at him, noticing how the angle of the sun seemed to make his naturally tan skin glow. The light made his lashes seem longer and his chin look chiseled, like the statues of ancient heroes that the Romans made. His curls fell into his closed eyes slightly, and the man's smile seemed to soften into one of pure happiness and appreciation as he reveled in the experience of being outside after so long inside, where air conditioning and heaters didn't let you appreciate the true weather of nature. He looked...

Then suddenly the emerald eyes opened and Antonio looked at the staring nurse. "Toma," he said with his smile widening into a grin. Lovino's whole body jerked suddenly, the nickname bringing him out of his observations and he realized that he probably was blushing, judging by the hot feeling that was making his cheeks prickle unpleasantly.

Lovino shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, because comparing a patient to a statue of a Roman hero, no matter how accurate Lovino deemed the comparison to be, was not appropriate in the least for a nurse to be doing. He took Antonio's wheelchair again and started off towards the maroon vehicle, a frown on his face. What had made him think those thoughts? Sure, he had attractive patients before, or rather patients who he had thought were attractive, but they were all women. He always had a thing for blue eyed ones, they always seemed to look so innocent and joyful. And if not sparkling blue, Lovino had found rich chocolate eyes mesmerizing. Never green though, never the bright emerald color that Antonio had. Yet the patient's eyes seemed to outdo all the other's in beauty by far. And his hair, the unruly curls, just gave Lovino this strange urge to run his fingers through them. And the Italian had always leaned towards blonde haired girls. It just... It didn't make sense. Especially the fact that Antonio was, quite obviously, a boy.

Lovino sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he parked the wheelchair in front of the van and opened the trunk, sliding out a small ramp that was for the chair to be wheeled onto. Antonio seemed to sense that Lovino was thinking and remained quiet, instead tilting his head back so the sun hit his face, occasionally making low rumbling noises of appreciation as a breeze would come along. After Lovino secured the ramp to make sure it didn't collapse, he turned to Antonio.

/I must be having an off day/, the Italian decided. /There's no way I find my male patient...a-attractive.../

Shaking his head again he took the handles and undid the brakes, rolling Antonio in and breaking the chair once again. Around this time Francis was coming out, looking around before spotting the admittedly small Italian struggling to strap the rather bulky wheelchair into the van. Snickering he waltzed over to them, Antonio smiling at him when he caught sight of the Frenchman. "Fancy!" He said in obvious delight and Lovino looked up, two thick Velcro straps in his hands. His curl was slightly crooked as he glared at the blonde, hair messed up. He was crouched on the ground, knees bent awkwardly since there wasn't exactly a lot of space.

"Can't get these damn straps in," he huffed and Francis smirked and slid inside, ducking his head slightly. Lovino shot him a warning glance but he ignored him.

"Mon petite italienne, let big brother Francis take care of this," the Frenchman purred and the auburn haired man rolled his eyes at the old nickname, that had started off as a joke more that anything. Francis had first introduced himself as that. Well, after Lovino had made it quite literally painfully clear that he wasn't interested in a sexual relationship. When that became somewhat clear, Francis had insisted that he would be a big brother figure to Lovino instead. "Besides, they need you to sign your name out," he added as he shooed Lovino out of the cramped back, much to the dismay of Antonio who tried calling him back.

The Italian stalked to the entrance, annoyed at being shooed out of the car so quickly, even though they were late. Lovino puffed his cheeks out in annoyance and pushed open the doors probably more forcefully than he had to. A thin, blonde girl with a hooked nose and too much lipstick was behind the desk, clipboard in front of her. She looked up at the somewhat violent opening of the door, squinting at Lovino as he walked in. A crooked name tag that read 'Amanda' was resting right above her breasts, which were pretty big. The girl wasn't ugly, Lovino decided. But... When he looked at her... He didn't find her very attractive. He frowned slightly as he walked up to her. "I'm supposed to sign out...?" He asked with a questioning tone. "I'm taking my patient to therapy," he clarified when the girl gave him a flat look. She smelled like cinnamon.

She did seem to perk up at Lovino's accent, and she suddenly leaned forwards, a smile on her bright red lips. The lipstick had smudged on the left side, and Lovino wanted to point it out because the bitch looked horrible with it but he didn't want to be too rude so he kept silent. "Oh hi, Mr. Vargas," she said in a low voice. She had blue eyes, Lovino fully noted, but they seemed kind of bland in comparison to green on-

Lovino blinked hard and internally slapped himself as he looked at the girl with surprise over his face. He liked blue eyes though. Didn't he? He wasn't comparing them to green eyes, right? The girl was smiling wider now, her breast pushed out to show full size as she leaned over the desk. Lovino got a full view of her cleavage, and found himself frowning. "You just need to sign out here, right next to Doctor Bonnefoy's name," she said in a honey coated voice, holding a back pen out to Lovino to sign. He reached out to take it, and she let her fingers longer over his hand.

The Italian suddenly quickly took his hand back, scribbling down his name in haste then shoved it back to the girl in one quick motion, feeling his cheeks heat up. It dully occurred to him that she was hitting on him, but it occurred to him with a much more force that he, quite honestly, didn't find her attractive at all. Not ugly, no, but... Lovino couldn't see himself kissing her or holding her or anything. It just seemed... Wrong. The girl looked slightly hurt at his rushed actions and Lovino sent her an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, we're late for an appointment," he offered as an excuse as he turned and quickly strode out of the door. By the time he had walked out, the van was already running, Francis in the driver's seat.

Seeing this, the Italian bristled and stomped over to the driver's seat, yanking at the handle. Francis seemed to have been prepared, however, because the handle was locked. He shot Lovino a knowing look. "Lovino, I am not getting into a car with you driving ever again. You nearly killed me," he said, dramatically placing a hand on his forehead. "Oh, mon cheri, I feel faint just thinking about it..." he said, fluttering his eyelashes.

The nurse scoffed angrily, but knew that they were fucking late, so he trudged over to the passengers side and got it, slamming the door shut so hard the entire car shook. "Whatever. I call driving on the way back," he muttered lowly. Francis, along with several other people besides Feliciano, seemed to think that Lovino was a reckless driver. Which, of course, was not true. Everybody knew that the rules of the road weren't really 'rules', they were more like guidelines. Obviously.

Grumbling under his breath in Italian, because he knew that Francis couldn't understand him and that it pissed him off, Lovino clicked his buckle in and twisted around in his seat to check on Antonio, as he normally did when a patient was first in a car after sucks a long time of being out of a car. To his surprise, Antonio wasn't smiling and looking out of the windows with wide, childlike eyes while trying to will his mind to remember the words so he could pronounce them again, but he was staring right back at Lovino with his emerald green eyes, a whimper escaping his throat.

"Lovi..." the man murmured as his head lolled to the side slightly when the car went over a bump. The curly haired man's stance tensed in the chair and his eyes bored into Lovino's. "I scahed," he mumbled, eyes widening as Francis turned a corner which caused the van to sway slightly.

Lovino honestly had no idea why Antonio was scared. He was strapped in pretty securely, not only into his wheelchair, but his wheelchair was strapped into the van. The chances of Francis crashing a car were about 0.0000001 percent, since the blonde was an extra careful driver whenever patients were in the car. So he was safe, he even had a nice view of the outside which had to be much more interesting than the view from the hospital window. Another curve brought out another scared "Lovi..." from Antonio, and suddenly it hit the Italian.

When asked for details about how Antonio had gotten his brain damage in the first place-people just don't wake up with it-Francis had discovered that Antonio had been in a car crash on his way home from a small vacation on the southern part of Italy, which Lovino believed to be slightly ironic since that was where he was from himself. He had been on his way to the airport, or at least that's what the G.P.S. recovered from the crash had said. He never made it home. After being sent to several local hospitals, none of which could find a way to get the man to respond, he was sent to Spain, his home country where his real home was, for further treatment. When this, too, failed, a hospital in the good old U.S.A. offered to try and take him in to test out some new therapies that college students were forming on the recovery of brain damaged patients. Unfortunately, that hospital had gotten too full, seeing they had opened their doors to pretty much every country with brain dear citizens in need of healing, so Antonio had been sent to the current hospital that Lovino was working at now.

Of course, all of this complicated moving around had started with a car crash. And Antonio was currently in a car. Well, fuck. Sighing, Lovino unbuckled, causing Francis to look over. "What are you...?" He asked in confusion as Lovino scrambled around the seat in a way that several police officers wouldn't be too happy about, and landed in the back of the van with a thump.

"Lovino?" Francis called back in confusion, refusing to take his eyes off the road but wanting to know what exactly the small Italian was doing in the back of the van when he was pretty sure he was just fine sitting in the passengers seat, if not a little pissed because he couldn't drive.

"Focus on the road, fuckface!" Lovino shouted back which causes the blonde to roll his eyes slightly. Ironic, since Lovino never focused on the road himself. He certainly wasn't focusing on the road now, since he was pulling himself up from the awkward and uncomfortable as hell position he had landed in when he had crawled over the seat. Balancing on his knees, Lovino shuffled closer to the rather scared looking Spaniard, whose emerald eyes were watching him.

Sighing, Lovino came closer until he was level with Antonio. "Don't be scared, idiota", he said flatly. Yes, Lovino Vargas was not exactly known for his words of comfort, but he was trying. Antonio tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth to say something before suddenly the van jerked up and down, rolling over a large bump. Antonio clamped his mouth shut, eyes wide in fear as he looked pleadingly at Lovino, who sighed.

"Come on, Antonio..." he said as he blushed at what his next actions would be. But they were for the comfort of his fucking needy patient, so it had to be done. He slowly reached out, and grabbed one of Antonio's limp hands and cradled it to his chest, squeezing it reassuringly. "I'm right here, we're not going to crash," he murmured softly.

Antonio's eyes flickered in what Lovino thought was surprise as he looked at the auburn haired nurse with parted lips and dilated eyes. Then suddenly a small, lopsided smile came over the man's face and he jerked his hand towards himself-not to get it away from Lovino but to bring the nurse closer. Lovino seemed to understand and he shuffled closer, or at least as close as he could get with the giant fucking wheelchair in the way.

Antonio leaned his head, or rather, let his head roll against Lovino's with a content sigh escaping his lips, his had only tightening when Francis rolled over a bump or went around a shape corner. They sat like this, patient against nurse, friend against friend, until they reached the physical therapy building.

Half an hour late.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Have I mentioned how much I love you guys? Cause I do! I'm so excited that people like this story. And to Dubstepezio, I have to admit that I was waiting for someone to say something like that. I don't want to offend anyone that has had experience with brain damage, of course, and if I put in anything offensive or just plain stupid or wrong about it, you guys can tell me and I'll take it down. **

**And to kitty132383, I might do a bonus chapter about the two! This is my first time adding Fruk to a story, hehe, so it may not turn out well but if you want me to I will! **

**And also, I want to let everyone know that if you have any ideas for this story I'll be glad to try and fit them in! And yes, Book Thief101, I'll be adding the haircut scene in the next chapter. **

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own hetalia **

Lovino took an immediate distaste to the man currently standing in front of him. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but there was something about his perfectly slicked back, blonde hair, his cool blue eyes that gave off the feeling of control, and strong pose that radiated authority that got under his skin and made him want to yell at the man for no apparent reason. Said man was currently wearing a black, muscle t-shirt with the physical therapy company's name on it and loose, army green cargo pants. The company's name was written in large, rather intimidating white block letters, all capitals; 'HARTMANN CENTER FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH AND HEALING'.

Lovino had no idea who 'Hartmann' was, probably the owner of the damn place. Underneath was the logo, and Lovino couldn't help but roll his eyes when he read it. 'Working hard so you can work hard again'. How lovely.

"Are you with Mr. Carriedo?" A stiff, clipped voice with a heavy German accent broke through Lovino's thoughts, and he nodded, narrowing his eyes at the blonde. "You're late," the blonde added in an irritated tone under his breath. Lovino didn't respond to his comment and instead met the man's steady gaze. The man seemed to stare at him for longer that he should, the ice blue eyes showing confusion.

"Are you going to fucking stare at me or are we going to get a move on?" Lovino finally snapped. Behind him he heard the automatic doors slide open and the sounds of Francis pushing a wheelchair over the carpeted foyer. The man gave Lovino one last confused glance but then nodded stiffly.

"I'm Ludwig. I'll be Mr. Carriedo's therapist. I hope he doesn't mind, but we'll be working with another patient at the same time," he said as he turned to Francis, who had just wheeled Antonio up to the duo.

Seeing Ludwig open his mouth again, no doubt to introduce himself to Francis and tell him the same shit he had told to Lovino, the Italian quickly spoke before he could. "Francis, this is Ludwig. Antonio'll be working with another patient." He turned to the German. "I'm Antonio's nurse, this is his doctor," he said while pointing to himself, then Francis. "Let's get a fucking move on."

Ludwig nodded again, obviously eager to get started as well, seeing as they were already late. "I'll be taking Antonio now. His session will be two hours. You're welcome to stay," Ludwig offered while moving behind Francis to take the rubber handles of the wheelchair. Antonio tilted his head back at Ludwig.

"Who a youuu?" He asked curiously, his hand at his side jerking slightly, his tan fingers clenching and unclenching.

Ludwig looked down, raising a thin blonde eyebrow. "I'm Ludwig," he said as Antonio offered him a sloppy, lopsided grin, but quickly lost interest and let his head drop again, his chin brushing his chest.

Francis suddenly nudged Lovino, who had been observing the introductions with narrowed eyes. "Mon ami, how about we walk Antonio in then go for coffee?" he suggested, smiling in what was obviously supposed to be a seductive way to Lovino, no doubt a look that had been practiced on several girls. "After all, I am famished." Francis let out a dramatic groan to accompany these words, raising a hand to his forehead and rolling his eyes back as if he was about to faint. Lovino knew that Francis cared for the well being of his patients, but it wasn't a requirement for nurses or doctors to stay during therapist sessions, and usually they didn't. They could distract them, after all, and cause the sessions to slow down or backpedal.

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Go cry me a fucking river," he muttered as they started to trail after Ludwig towards Antonio's new therapy room. They passed other sessions on their way, and Lovino caught glimpses of people bent over medicine balls and stretched out on yoga mats, crutches and braces discarded in the corner.

"Antonio cannot control basic functions, correct?" Ludwig asked as they walked, Francis letting out occasional whispered whines into Lovino's ear about coffee.

Lovino elbowed the Frenchman back, responding to Ludwig with an annoyed, "What the hell do you consider 'basic functions'?"

"Walking, lifting, physical reactions to touch or verbal command."

Lovino bit his lip, glancing at Antonio who was currently letting his head roll around with the movement of the wheelchair, his mouth open in a 'O'. A faint trail of drool was dripping out of his mouth, and it was a good thing Lovino had tied the other's hair back or it would get fucking gross and spit covered again.

"Well... No."

In front of him, Lovino could see Ludwig nod, as if he had been expecting that. Well, of course he had to have been. Antonio was in a damn wheelchair for fucks sake. Francis let out another groan about being hungry, and Lovino felt himself bristle with annoyance. He was sure the Frenchman wouldn't have been acting like this if this was their former patient, Mr. Kirkland. True, the blonde seemed to like Antonio, but certainly not as much as he had liked the thick browed man they had gotten before. Lovino just wished that the perverted bastard would act that way towards all their patients. No, not act in the 'once you get well enough can I fuck you?' kind of way, but in the 'I'll always be there for you and pay close attention' kind of way.

"Here," Ludwig grunted as they stopped in front of a door near the end of the hall. He let go of Antonio's wheelchair to open the door, and as soon as he did Lovino froze. Ah, now he understood why Ludwig had looked at him for longer than necessary. This was not fucking good.

"Fratello?" A curious and slightly confused but still unbearably cheerful voice questioned as Lovino and Francis stepped in after Antonio, who was now staring at Feliciano with a look of complete and utter confusion, his lips parted as his hands clenched into fists so tight that his normally tan skin was white.

Brows furrowed and slumping forwards slightly in his wheelchair, though it now looked like he might fall off, Antonio spoke almost hesitantly. "Lovi...?" he asked, though it wasn't addressed to Lovino, it seemed to be shot at Feli. Said Italain was currently wearing two bulky leg braces and was standing unsteadily, his hands on the wall to help him balance. His crutches were placed neatly against the wall, along with his shoes. Lovino noticed that Feliciano also seemed to be wearing strange shaped shoes that forced his feet to be straight.

Feliciano turned his excited gaze from Lovino to Francis to Antonio multiple times, looking like he was watching a tennis match. "Oh! This is so much fun! Fratello, is this your patient?" Without waiting for an answer, Feliciano staggered forwards, hands gripping the wall until he was closer to Antonio. Lovino felt an odd feeling of pride when he saw Feliciano walk, though it wasn't really walking. But he wasn't using his crutches, and even with the leg braces it was a start.

Lovino watched carefully as Feli approached his patient, lips forming a thin line as Antonio's wide green eyes settled on Feliciano's face.

"Lovi?" He asked Feliciano again, and for some reason Lovino felt a strong surge of annoyance and anger, and it wasn't towards Antonio. It was towards his little brother. The sad thing was, the feeling wasn't new. Lovino had experienced it before countless times. He remembered the feelings from when they were younger, before Feli needed help walking. He had experienced it countless times, watching as Feliciano collected several girlfriends and boyfriends and admirers throughout high school, while he himself was the awkward loner, the outsider. He had hated Feliciano at fist, but then realized that it wasn't his fault that he was how he was, just like it wasn't entirely Lovino's fault that he acted how he did, too.

But the feelings, or if you want to classify it as one feeling you could call it jealously, have finally gone away over time. Lovino came to accept that yes, his little brother was more liked than him, and also that making friends was hard and annoying as all hell. So he simply stopped caring. He pushed back crushes and friendships and relationships because he knew that if he accepted them, they wouldn't last. And it would lead to more negative feelings, and Lovino just didn't have time to deal with that crap.

So why did it bother him that Antonio, who was simply his patient, was talking to Feliciano as if he was Lovino? That is, he was talking to Feliciano with a sparkle of joy in his eyes that occurred when he talked to Lovino, but not Francis? With a lazy, half grin on his face, an excited bob of his head that indicated how happy he was?

Feliciano giggled happily at Antonio's confusion, obviously finding it cute, as he stopped in front of him. "No, silly!" He chirped and Lovino noticed out of the corner of his eye how Ludwig was starting to nervously hover around Feliciano, since the younger Italian was now trying to bend down to get a closer look at Antonio, though obviously bending his knees wasn't an easy task with the leg braces. "I'm Feliciano! You can call me Feli though, if that's easier," he said as he took a hand off the wall to shake Antonio's hand.

Ludwig darted forwards immediately, a large, pale hand steadying Feliciano's elbow. "I told you to keep a hand on the wall at all times," The German stressed, but was ignored as Feliciano squealed in delight when Antonio messily shook his hand, grin widening on his face.

"Felly," Antonio said, the name falling messily from his lips. Feliciano's face brightened and he nodded. Antonio then turned to the German who was still holding on to Feliciano (something Lovinp was starting to feel irritated about), and mumbled, "Loodig." This caused Feliciano to burst into a fit of giggles, which resulted in what Lovino took as a pleased look from Antonio.

Or maybe the nurse just wasn't thinking straight. Suddenly, getting coffee with a blonde pervert sounded much better than watching his patient getting all buddy buddy with his little brother. He nudged Francis, who had also been watching the scene, though with much more boredom than Lovino. "We can go now," he grumbled, turning to leave. Francis grinned at him and nodded.

"We shall be back!" The Frenchman sang before waltzing out of the room with the keys gripped in his hands. He really must've been hungry, Lovino reasoned. However, before the Italian could follow the doctor Ludwig cleared his throat.

Sighing in annoyance, because by then he decided that he really, really disliked that guy, Lovino turned around. "Si?" he asked, trying to ignore how his fratello was chatting with Antonio, who really just looked like he was going to fall asleep but was still grinning.

"May I have your cellular number?" The blonde asked, placing Feliciano's hand on the wall before making his way over to Lovino. When he took in the nurse's confused look and raised eyebrow, he quickly explained himself. "In case something goes wrong with Antonio. I don't want to contact the hospital if it is nothing too serious," he said as he reached into one of his pant's pockets and took out a black pen. It was a company one, and the logo stood out in large, white letters.

"Paper?" Lovino asked as he took the bulky pen, frowning at it. It reminded him of the German, for some reason, and he kind of wanted to smash it in two. Ludwig nodded quickly, patting his other pocket before quickly going towards the back of the room where a small table filled with charts and graphs that Lovino hadn't noticed before was there. He came back with a torn piece of paper, and Lovino snatched it from him and scribbled down his number.

He shoved the paper back to the other with a nod. "Don't call me for anything stupid," he grumbled as he turned again.

"Bye, fratello!" A voice called and Lovino half turned to see Feli waving. He tried to stop the sinking of his heart when Antonio didn't even turn to acknowledge his parting. After a nod to Feliciano, he exited the room.

Francis was leaning against the wall, and when Lovino stepped out he smiled. "What took you so long?" He asked as they started walking. At the same time he tried to wrap an arm around Lovino's waist, only to have his arm harshly pinched. He quickly retracted it.

"The damn German wanted my number," he grumbled as Francis pouted and rubbed his arm. His face lit up at the statement, however, but when he opened his mouth to comment Lovino quickly cut him off. "In case something wrong happens with Antonio," he explained, trying to fight the annoying blush that came to his cheeks at the look Francis gave him.

"Let's just go."

The cafe was small, and even if Lovino would never admit it out loud, rather cute. He wouldn't admit it because the bastard Francis picked it, and also because it was a French cafe. Ever since Lovino had started working with the blonde doctor, he had a grudge against all things French. But that didn't stop him from ordering a few strawberry flavored macaroons and a cup of French roast coffee. There were several pictures of the Eiffel Tower on the dark brown wood walls, and the plates that held Lovino's macaroons and Francis' chocolate croissant had the word 'love' written written in French in a fancy cursive print. It was cheesy and unbearably cliché, but it had a homey feel to it and the food was, admittedly, good.

Francis seemed to like it as well. Or at least, he liked their waiter, a red haired girl with thick curves and a nose piercing. The blonde leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee as he watched the girl move around. "Oh, she sways her hips like an angel," he said dreamily as she passed by their table. "Although, I would prefer a blonde," he added seemingly lost in his thoughts for a moment. Lovino kicked him sharply under the table which caused the other to jump.

"Stop staring at her ass. We'll get kicked out," he snapped at him as he took a bite of his macaroon. It was good, though over priced. He decided to save one for Feliciano, he loved trying new foods. Plus he loved strawberry gelato, so he would like a strawberry macaroon too, right?

Francis shrugged, smiling at him. "I can not help it. I am French, non? Loving all is simply in my nature," he exclaimed with a sigh, licking some chocolate from his lips that was a result of his pastry. "Speaking of love, our new patient seems to be leaving a mark on you," Francis suddenly added, his lips falling into a sly smirk that made Lovino cringe as he took a sip of his coffee.

After swallowing the bitter drink, Lovino shot Francis a warning glare. "You're full of it. He's just a patient," he shot back quickly, looking down at the two remaining macaroons.

A knowing chuckle came from the other side of the table. "Oui, but you have never been so, well, eager to help a patient before. Honestly, holding his hand without a fight?" Lovino glanced up angrily to see one of the blonde's thin eyebrows raised.

Fighting a blush, a fight that Lovino figured he was failing due to the uncomfortable heat prickling his cheeks, Lovino narrowed his eyes. "Well, you can't say anything about it. You were all over our last patient," he pointed out.

Francis' eyes widened a bit, and Lovino bit back a snicker at the light blush that bloomed over his companion's pale cheeks. "Arthu-" he stopped himself and cleared his throat. "Mr. Kirkland needed special attention though!" He said, frowning at Lovino as he finished off his pastry and brushed off some spare flakes from his hands and legs.

"He was better off than Antonio," Lovino pointed out while he took the two remaining treats and wrapped them up in a few disposable napkins. "So you can't really-" Lovino suddenly stopped, frowning. Fuck. Was that his phone?

Biting back an irritated sigh and ignoring Francis' small chuckle at Lovino's ringtone, he placed the napkins down and waved off Francis who was now giving him a confused look. Reaching into his pocket, Lovino removed his cell phone and narrowed his eyes at the number on the screen. He had no idea who it was, but the area code was the same as his, so they must be local. He pressed the green answer button, lifting the phone against his ear. "Hello?"

"Is this Lovino Vargas?" A stiff voice answered immediately, and the German accent indicated who it was.

"Si," Lovino said, feeling a pang of worry jolt through his body as he gripped the phone tighter. Francis shot him a concerned look but didn't say anything, instead calling over the red headed waiter for their check. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" He asked hurriedly when there seemed to be a pause on the other end of the phone.

There were some muffled sounds, an irritated, 'No, you may not tell your brother about your new pasta idea right now', and a few more sounds that sounded clearer before Ludwig spoke again. "Antonio is fine," Lovino breathed a sigh of relief as he observed Francis try to flirt the waiter into giving them a discount across the table. "But... You have to come." Some more sounds, one that was no doubt Feliciano's voice that sounded slightly panicked. "Now."

The drive to the physical therapy building was short and hurried, though Francis still refused to let Lovino drive. "If Antonio was dying in a pool of his own blood I might let you drive," he said with an oh so charming smile to Lovino, who flushed angrily and threatened to throw a macaroon at him.

When Lovino knocked loudly and impatiently on the door to the room, Ludwig answered quickly, ice blue eyes showing obvious relief. "Come inside," he said as he stepped inside and he and Francis slipped inside.

"Antonio was fine for the first half hour," Ludwig explained as Francis and Lovino observed the scene in front of them. "But, well, then things went wrong," Ludwig frowned. "He refuses to be touched or to do his exercise, which is fairly simple and involves no physical strain."

Feliciano was looking rather panicked, leaning against the wall still and talking rapid fast to Antonio, his one free hand flailing around with various hand gestures. It was clear that he hadn't noticed the return of the doctor and his brother since he didn't even glance up.

Antonio, however, didn't look like he was listening. He head was slumped to the side as if he didn't have the energy to hold it up, though he was holding up one hand. His hand was grasping the hair, groping around for something that obviously wasn't there. And he was talking. Or rather, he was mumbling slurred sentences. "Lovi. Naht w'tought Lovi," was the repeated sentence, over and over.

"But Lovi's getting food, ve, and he'll be back soon! Come on, you were doing good exercises before!" Feliciano encouraged, shooting confused looks at Antonio's hand. He eventually reached over, as if to hold it, but Antonio jerked it back.

For the first time since Lovino had met the Spaniard, he looked annoyed. It wasn't a big facial change, but for Lovino it was enough. His lips had turned downwards, his brows furrowed. But it was his eyes that gave him away, the normally twinkling green flashing in a way that they hadn't before. "Nooo," he grumbled as his hand moved away from the concerned looking Feli. "Felly not Lovi," he said as if this was Feliciano's fault, like the younger had somehow managed to trick Antonio into thinking that he actually was Lovino.

It was at this time that Lovino decided to step in, letting out an exasperated sigh at Antonio's actions. He grabbed the larger hand in his own, and Antonio at first tried to jerk it back, but when the Italian held on he turned his head towards his hand, chocolate strands of hair falling loose from his ponytail. He stared at Lovino for a good minute before tilting his head and breaking out into a smile. "Lovi!" he cried as his arm jerked back towards himself while his grip tightened. The result was Lovino half falling forwards with a small yelp as Antonio let his face fall against Lovino's shoulder and he took a shaky breath in. "Lovi," he repeated, though he sounded sadder. "Whyy... Whyy youu leeve?" He said asked in what Lovino could determine was a sad and questioning voice. "Felly no Lovi," he mumbled against Lovino's shoulder.

In the background, Lovino could hear Feliciano let out an excited gasp and Francis let out a snicker. "Antonio, dammit, let me go," Lovino grumbled in annoyance. Said patient simply seemed to grip him tighter, a rumbling sigh escaping his lips. "Fuck. Antonio, I'm not going to leave again, I was getting food with Francis. Now let me go and do your stupid exercises."

There was a pause, and finally Antonio's grip loosened. Lovino straightened up, glaring at the Spaniard whose lips were parted into a half grin. "Now let go of my hand." Antonio didn't move, he didn't even make any indication that he had heard the other.

Suddenly, Ludwig cleared his throat loudly in the background "Lovino, I think that it's best that you stay the rest of the session." Lovino scowled and he could've sworn the grin widened on his patients face. "And I'm afraid that you'll have to continue holding his hand as well," Ludwig added awkwardly.

Lovino knew from the giggles coming in the direction of Francis and Feliciano that this wasn't something that was going to get dropped anytime soon. He heaved a sigh, glaring at Ludwig like this was all his fault, and nodded his head, succumbing to the gazes of emerald green and cool blue. "This better be fucking worth it."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey! I hope you like this chapter. Poor Lovi :( He's been having a bad month. Antonio's improving though! And Feli knows more than he things, hehe. **

**So, the hair cut scene is in here. I honestly think that Antonio needed one from the beginning. Lovi just never got around to it. **

**As for 2degreesabovefreezing, I'm glad that you think I'm doing this right! Especially since you have experience. Like I said before, I hope that I don't write anything offensive to disabled people any where, and if I do it's completely unintentional. **

**And I think I'm going to add a FrUk chapter. Maybe. I don't know. I've never written that pairing before, and I don't want to screw any thing up! **

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I will never ever own Hetalia or any other brand names that I have written about. Ever. **

The conversation that happened when Lovino arrived home from the physical therapy fiasco was still haunting Lovino, despite the fact that it happened a month ago.

Feliciano had been there when he had got home that night, since Ludwig had given him a ride. Despite the fact that Lovino knew that he should be thankful to the blonde bastardo, this only served in him disliking him even more than before since he was taking time away from him and his fratello.

Feliciano had been sitting at the table, two plates of steaming pasta in front of him and a knowing smile on his face. The pasta was bare, maybe before they could've had homemade sauce or grated cheese on top. But for now it was plain, toppings like that just memories from before the accident.

After ushering Lovino in and urging him to sit and eat, Feliciano pounced on Lovino when he had his mouth stuffed with pasta. "So, fratello, you and your patient seem to be rather close," he purred innocently, poking at his own pasta idly with his fork. His crutches were leaning against his chair, a new keychain taped onto one of them that had the physical therapy company's name on it. The keychain was no different from Ludwig's shirt or the pen Lovino had used to write his number. Black with thick, white block letters. Lovino thought they should get a better designer for all their shit.

Lovino had ignored Feliciano at first, taking his time as he slowly chewed and swallowed his pasta, taking a long sip of water to wash it down. Feli patiently waited for an answer of some type, placing his fork down to take a sip of his own water. "I guess," Lovino finally said casually after a lengthy silence. "But dammit, he's my patient. All nurses and doctors and therapists and shit seem close to them. It's just how it is," he stated flatly as he took some more pasta onto his fork, ignoring the plying gaze Feliciano was giving him.

"Well, si, but he seemed to really like you, ve," the younger stated knowingly, pouting slightly when Lovino threw him a glare before proceeding to ignore him. "He was fine at first, but when he noticed you were gone he got really sad!" He exclaimed, waving one hand in the air in exaggerated gestures while using the other to pick up his fork and scoop up a piece of pasta. "And then he wouldn't stop saying your name! If he wasn't so scared looking it would've been adorable. Like a little bambino looking for his mom! Though, I think he likes you more than a mom," Feliciano popped his piece of pasta into his mouth, practically inhaling it while winking at Lovino.

Lovino sighed, looking down at his half finished plate of pasta. "Feli. I do not like him like that, and he doesn't like me like that. Got it?" He said firmly.

"But-"

"Got it?" He asked louder, though it wasn't much of a question now.

Feliciano had shaken his head, shot Lovino a 'you'll see I'm right soon enough' look, and said, "Got it."

Other things that had happened in the past month: Antonio could now go on a car ride without freaking out.

Antonio could use his hands and arms without them jerking around.

Antonio finally managed to say his first perfect two syllable word: window.

As for Lovino, the month hadn't been so good. One night he had gotten home after being dropped off by Francis to be greeted by a sullen looking Alfred. "Hey, dude, I'm so sorry, but Kiku heard some noises out in the parkin' garage today and when he got there..." the blonde trailed off, biting his lip. "Well, we think someone tried to break into your car." Lovino's heart stopped. He hadn't taken his car to work that day because he was low on gas, and Francis had offered a ride anyways.

But why would someone try to break into his car? He fucking loved his car, but he never left anything valuable in it. Unless...

"D-did you see anything on the camera?" Lovino finally asked a little shakily. Alfred shot him a concerned look, but before he could respond a quiet voice interrupted.

"The man was wearing a mask, Mr. Lovino," Kiku said, coming out from the back room and nodding at Lovino.

The Italian swallowed thickly. "Wha-what kind of mask?" He finally forced out, feeling like he already knew the answer. Please not let it be him, though. He couldn't afford any more harassment from him. Please...

"Well, it was white and covered half his face," Kiku said, and Lovino took in a sharp breath.

Of course.

He hadn't hear from Sadiq in a little while, actually, and was beginning to think that he had finally left Lovino alone. Their relationship had been rocky from the start, after all, with Sadiq liking telling people what to do, and Lovino hating being told what to do.

In all honesty, the little bitch Sadiq was actually kind of fun to date, for the first couple of weeks. Then he started acting like he owned Lovino, like the Italian was his possession. And of course, Lovino didn't like this.

Lovino had no idea how they managed to last for two whole years, but when it came to the point where he found himself not being able to visit his fratello and having to text the other everywhere he was going, he cut him off. And Sadiq, of course, was not happy.

It started as threats through phone calls and text messages. Then he had broken a window in their apartment, shredded their mail, shit like that. He wanted Lovino back at first, but by now he just enjoyed making his life miserable when he could.

"Dude, you alright?" Alfred frowned as he peered into Lovino's face, which was a mixture of being pissed off and nervousness. The blonde glanced at Kiku, who repeated the question, though without the 'dude' part.

Lovino blinked, dragged out of his thoughts. "Oh. U-um, how bad is the damage?" He asked with a slight blush, obviously embarrassed that he had zoned out.

Alfred bit his lip, his expression giving away that it apparently wasn't good news. "Shattered window and scratches on the side. Least they didn't slash your tires, though, that would've been a pain in the ass."

Lovino's shoulders slumped. "And there isn't anything you can do...?" He guesses. Both Kiku's and Alfred's apologetic faces have away the answer.

"Sorry, bro. Me and Kiks will work extra hard to find who did it, and bring them to justice!" Alfred exclaimed as he slung an arm around the now blushing Japanese man's shoulder. "I'll even get Artie to lend me his Sherlock Holmes kit!" the blonde said enthusiastically.

Lovino sighed and nodded, doubting they would find who it was. It wasn't like it mattered if they did, Lovino had called the police on Sadiq before, and he found out that the other had connections in the police department. "Alright," he said half heartedly as he passed the two. "Tell me if you find anything..." he mumbled as he had walked up the stairs to deliver the news to Feliciano.

Since the Italian didn't have enough money at the time to fix his car, he had found a new carpool. Francis. The Frenchman had been surprisingly understanding about it all, even offering to lend Lovino money. The nurse had refused, he still had his pride after all, and he wasn't fucking poor. Just... Low on money at the time. No, he and Feli weren't on the streets, they weren't starving, they were fine. Lovino was doing his best.

Lost in thought about his crappy month, the Italian sighed as gently propped Antonio up in the bath, running a brush through the long curls. His thoughts had made him distracted, and to his surprise Antonio had noticed.

"L-lovi...?" Antonio asked, head back and green eyes big as the Italian brushed his hair. Soft bubbles floated along the surface of the water, the bubble bath mixture a donation from the local girl scout troop, as well as cookies and finger paint for the patients. Lovino still thought they were annoying bitches that would eat your soul if you didn't buy any cookies.

Lovino blinked, looking down at Antonio. His hair was too long, Lovino decided as he brushed. A hair cut. Antonio needed a hair cut. "Lovi?" Antonio asked again, more firmer as he blinked at the Italian slowly, his thick lashes covering his emerald eyes for a moment.

Lovino frowned as he placed the brush down, leaning over to drain the water before standing up to get a towel. "Si?" He asked, walking back over to the Spaniard and lifting his shoulders up so he could slip the towel behind his back before bringing the ends around to wrap around his chest.

Antonio's brows furrowed in concentration, his lips parted slightly as he seemed to will the words to pour out. They didn't, and instead the Spaniard had to shove them out, broken and mangled. But Matthew had been doing his job, and they were slowly getting patched up. "W-wha... Wha's wong?"

The Italian sighed, mentally scolding himself for showing how stressed he was. It was a rule that, no matter how hard your life has been lately, to toughen the fuck up and act normal in front of their patients. Negative nurses or doctors lead to negative patients, and the hospital flipped shit when that happened. "Nothing," he replied. "Wait here, I'm going to call Bella." She had returned from her skiing trip all smiles and excitement, handing Lovino a snow globe of some mountains and gushing for half an hour as they cleaned Antonio's room about how amazing it was.

Antonio's lips gaped open, as if he was about to form a protest to Lovino, but Lovino had left by then to set up the chair and call the Belgian.

Once everything was set up and Antonio was in the chair, Lovino nodded in satisfaction. "I'll be right back, Bastardo."

Antonio let out a small whine of 'Loviii, donnn leaaaaav-ve...!', but Lovino rolled his eyes and left as the room. He came back moments later.

"Alright, Antonio. It's time for your hair cut."

Lovino stood with Bella, a white towel and a broom and dustpan bundled in his arms. The blonde smiled enthusiastically, a pair of gleaming, silver scissors in her hands, as well as a comb. "Are you ready, sweetie?" she asked sweetly. Lovino tried to ignore the twist in his stomach when he heard the affectionate nick name, and tried to remind himself that the Belgian women was like that towards everyone. Why did he care what she called Antonio, anyways?

Speaking of Antonio, he was seated in a chair, velcro straps running across his biceps and ankles to keep him from falling out. He had gotten better at keeping still, curtesy of the potato bastard, but he would still slide out of chairs.

He was currently slumped back in the chair, eyes wide as he observed the two nurses. He looked confused, emerald eyes flicking between the two as Lovino placed the brook and dustpan against the wall. The Italian then took the white towel over to the confused looking Spaniard, draping it across his shoulders and chest.

"Ready, tomato bastard?" He asked as he tucked the ends of the towel into each other carefully so it wouldn't fall off. All he got in response was a blink.

Moving back, Lovino nodded to Bella, who bounced over. "Don't get too fucking carried away. I want it short, but not too short. And no girly styles, either!" he warned as the green eyes girl flashed him an innocent look and batted her eyelashes.

"I would never dream of Antonio with a girly hair cut!" She cooed, though disappointment was evident in her voice. "Although, you have to admit, with those cheek bones he wouldn't look bad with a bob..."

"Bella!"

"Alright, alright," she laughed as she approached Antonio, the comb being handed to Lovino. "Now, Antonio, honey, I need you to keep still..." she raised the scissors, however Antonio suddenly ducked, letting out a panicked 'No!'.

Bella and Lovino exchanged confused looks. "What's wrong, idiota?" Lovino called, twirling the comb between his fingers.

Antonio looked at him, head tilted as he parted his lips. "Lovi..." he paused. "Lovi cut, si?" he said with wide, pleading eyes. A lock of hair fell in his face, covering one green eye.

"What?" Lovino asked, though he had heard the other. Was that Italian he had used? Before Lovino got excited that Antonio knew how to speak his native language, he remembered the records. Right. Antonio had been from Spain. So he was remembering to use Spanish now?

Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, Bella interrupted him. "Aw, he wants you to give him a hair cut! I'm being rejected," she added the last part playfully, winking at Lovino.

Said Italian was giving both of them looks as if they were out of their minds "Are you fucking kidding? I've never cut anyone's hair in my life!" He protested.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a low whine came from Antonio's throat. The Spaniard looked like a kicked puppy that had been set on fire and thrown in a pit of tarantulas. His eyes were watery and he was slumped forwards. Lovino huffed in annoyance at the dramatic gesture, but Bella seemed to take it to heart.

The blonde turned to Lovino, arms crossed. "Lovino!" She said in a scolding tone. "If your patient wants you to give him a hair cut, you're going to give him a hair cut!" She said, uncrossing her arms and waving the scissors slightly. Lovino could've sworn he saw the evil tomato bastard's mouth twist into a self satisfied smirk.

"But-!" He tried protesting, taking a step back.

"No! Come on!" Bella grabbed Lovino's wrist and dragged him to the back of the chair, leaving him looking down at the damp, curly locks of the Spaniard. "Here," the blonde said, pressing the cool scissors into Lovino's hand.

"But I don't-!" Lovino attempted to protest again, but Bella lightly slapped him upside the head.

"You'll learn! Now, come on, it's not that hard, sweetie," she coaxed, removing the comb from Lovino's hand and letting their fingers brush, something Antonio's emerald eyes caught.

Lovino looked a little helpless, standing behind Antonio's head with scissors raised. Antonio suddenly leaned his head back. His normally wide eyes were slightly narrowed. Lovino scowled at him. "What?" He snapped.

"Lovi ony," came the response. Green eyes were trained on the Belgian, and she tilted her head.

"What?" She asked in a confused tone. She was close to Lovino, her shoulder brushing against the Italian's.

"Lovi. _O-o-onl-ly_." Antonio forced out, the second word coming out in short stutters. However, the meaning of it was clear.

Bella raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on her lips. "Oh my. Looks like you have an over protective patient here, Lovi," she said with a wink, nudging Lovino's arm as she placed the comb in Antonio's lap. "Well, have fun!"

Lovino blinked in confusion. "D-dammit, Bella, I need your help though!" he said as he gripped the scissors.

The blonde smiled. "I know, but I have to check in with Feliks, anyways. He has some blood test results I need. Besides, I don't want to make Toni upset. Bye!" And not waiting around long enough for Lovino to protest again, she exited the room, shutting the door behind her.

Lovino stared at the door, then back down at Antonio. "You little fucker," he growled. All he got in response was a giggle as the Spaniard moved his head forwards again. Lovino couldn't help but feel proud, almost, when he took note on how much Antonio improved. Even if it was all Ludwig's doing, Lovino did have to stay for all of his damn lessons and he had watched Antonio improve. His actions were so much calmer, controlled now.

With a sigh, Lovino stepped closer to the other and reached in his lap for the comb, taking his time as he combed out the other's thick hair. "I don't know why you wanted Bella to leave. She's pretty damn nice." A grunt came from the patient, causing Lovino to roll his eyes. "Use your fucking words. I know you can. You're like a toddler," he huffed as he moved some of the other's hair, hesitantly raising his scissors.

He faltered slightly when he suddenly heard a noise from Antonio. It took him a moment to realize that the other was humming, and his cheeks heated up when he recognized the tune.

Bésame Mucho.

The Italian, however, seemed more at ease as he lifted the scissors again and cut off some of Antonio's hair, making the cut short, a little loose from the man's scalp, but not shaggy. After a few more snips, he seemed to get the hang of it.

"You're damn lucky I haven't just sawed off your hair with Dora the Explorer safety scissors. You're so difficult at times," Lovino murmured as he walked around to get Antonio's front, combing the hair in front of the other's face. The humming faltered as two green eyes peered out through the dark locks.

"Si," Antonio chirped. Spanish again, Lovino noted. "B-buuu..t..." he added in a song song voice. "Lovi c-cuut minne hair, si?" He said, and Lovino could detect the hint of smugness in Antonio's voice.

Lovino sighed as he snipped some of the hair in front of Antonio's face, making one eye visible. "You bastard. I knew you were being dramatic on purpose," he huffed with a pout. Antonio grinned.

"But this is going to be the best fucking hair cut I will ever make," Lovino continued in a normal tone. Antonio gave a small cheer, his eyes shining as he looked up at Lovino.

And it really had been the best hair cut Lovino had ever made. Even though, with it freshly cut, it looked a little out of proportion (due to some damp pieces of hair being combed perfectly straight while other's sat in lifeless curls), but when the next morning came and Francis and Lovino woke Antonio up, Antonio's hair had fallen into a natural looking head of bouncy curls.

"You look great, mon ami!" Francis cooed as he ran a hand through Antonio's now short curls. Lovino caught himself glaring and quickly looked away. "Matthew won't even recognize you!" Francis said with a smile.

Antonio looked excited. "A-an-nd Gilllly?" He asked.

Francis laughed. "Oui, Gilbert won't be able to recognize you either," he said with a smile.

Antonio let out a laugh, obviously finding this thought amusing. Lovino rolled his eyes at the two. "You're both idiots," he said as he set up some chairs for Matthew's. Though, and he would never admit it out loud, maybe the hair cut was the one thing that went right for him in a while.


End file.
